From a Rose to Tea

A year ago I sporadically gathered some rose hips from a little wild rose I have growing in the back yard.  This rose bush, in particular, came from my parents home in Bigfork, MT. – transplanted from a favorite uncle’s home in Darby, MT.

I sun dried the hips and then….didn’t do anything with them.  They have sat – prettily – in a cute jar for a year.

So this year I gathered the hips again and those from a wild rose that had popped up in my garden about three years ago.  The hips were plentiful, bright red and ready to be harvested.  My intention this year – rose hip tea.

I drug out the dehydrator and carefully spread all those beautiful rose hips on two levels.  I began at 135* and after about six hours figured out the heat needed to be turned up.  At 150* the hips were dried with another two hours of drying time. I wanted the hips to be hard when I handled them – not at all soft to the touch.

I removed the stems and the blossom ends of the now hard berries and proceeded to the food processor.  Chopping the berries up to about 1/4″ pieces you will begin to notice all the furry hairs from the center of the berries – not to worry!  Once you have chopped the berries up then pour the food processor contents into a fine sieve.  The little hairs will just shake through the sieve leaving you with beautiful rose hip tea. The hairs are known for causing problems if you try to consume them!

A teaspoon or so of this blend in a tea ball, boiling water over the top and about ten minutes steeping time – and you too will have taken a rose to tea!

I apologize for not taking more photos along the way but here is the finished product.  Yummy tea – from a rose!

 

Tags: food processor, hips, Rose, Tea, Vitamin C