A "Little" Warning about Rose Hips ~ Home Pharmacy Series

'"We better keep on round, then," said Homily hoarsely, a hairy seed of a rose hip being stuck in her throat. She began to cough. "I thought you said you cleaned them?" she complained to Arriety, when she could get back her breath.

"I must have missed one," said Arriety. "Sorry," and she passed her mother a new half hip, freshly scoured; she had rather enjoyed opening the pale scarlet globes and scooping out the golden nest of close-packed seeds, and she liked the flavor of the hips themselves - they tasted, she thought, of apple skins honeyed over with a dash of rose petal."

~ Mary Norton, The Borrowers Collection

Though rose hips are full of vitamin-C and wonderful in teas, syrups and such, some caution is advised when it comes to the broken or "cut" rose hips. The inside of the seed contain tiny hairs that can be quite irritating if ingested or come in contact with skin. Pranksters would use this as "itching powder". The simple remedy would be to either strain your teas, syrups and tinctures very well, or you can purchase the "seedless" cut rose hips which have the hairs removed already.

We also use the dried whole rose hips in our teas and tinctures without any problems as the fruit stays intact. We have also broken up the whole seeds which contain the hairs and use those inside our herbal remedies. As long as we strain them through a fine tea strainer or light cloth, there is never any problem. But, I did want to warn you before I share more rose hip recipes. The last thing you want to do is accidentally grab a pile of "cut" rose hips and then scratch that itch on the back of your neck...  you'd be a bit of a wreck.

Illustration of Rose Hips by Beatrix Potter

For more information on foraging and harvesting rose hips for your medicinal pantry, visit here. This post is a part of our "Home Apothecary Series". We hope to have you share your recipes when we host our "rose hips link up" within the next month or so. In the meantime, happy herbal-homemaking!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.