Rose hips are a powerhouse of an herb with a wide array of benefits to our health and beauty. Once you learn about how nutritious and packed full of antioxidants they are, you’ll be glad to know there are many uses for rose hip both in diet and skincare. Let’s discover over 60 rose hip recipes!
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Benefits of Rose hips
Packed solid with more vitamin C than an orange, you should seriously consider growing roses for the nutritional value of the fruit if you don’t know of a source for foraging rose hips.
Just one ounce of fresh rose hips contains 200% of your daily needs for vitamin C! They’re also high in vitamin A and a good source of other nutrients such as folate, calcium, and magnesium.
Studies also show that rose hips are good for your heart. They are a SUPER food, for sure!
The high antioxidant content of rose hips, particularly fresh ones, makes them a reputed skincare product. Aging skin is thirsty for all of the goodness it will find in rose hips. They’re like the free-radical fighting ninja warriors of the herbal world.
Many natural skincare products, including rose hip soap and rose hip lip balm, and rose hip face serum are made with rose hip seed oil. It’s a great choice for all skin types and will moisturize without being heavy and too oily.
You can also make your own rose hip infused oil!
What’s more, is the beauty and aroma of the rose bush throughout the year is nourishment to the soul as well as our bodies. Any leftover berries will go on to feed wildlife and snowbirds over the cold winter months.
With all of these benefits, growing roses in your garden or adding them to your search list on autumn foraging adventures is a must!
The only question is after you’ve harvested those fruits, what rose hip recipes will you use to prepare them?
Be sure to check out the other plants you could be foraging this fall in our guide, What to Forage in Fall: 30+ Edible & Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms!
Can’t find rose hips on your foraging trips? Check out my favorite herbal supplier, Mountain Rose Herbs to stock your herbal pantry with dried rose hips.
60+ Rose Hip Recipes for Food, Health, and Beauty
Rose Hip Beverages
Rose hips make a lovely cordial or even more seasonal, a Rosehip and Apple Cordial.
And there’s no easier way to use them than in a cup of rose hip tea!
Beat the summer heat with some refreshing rose hip drinks like Rosehip Iced Tea and Berry Rosehip Chia Agua Fresca. The color on that drink is spectacular!
Or you can take the health benefits of rosehips to the next level and boost your gut health with Fermented Rosehip Soda or Rose Hip Kombucha.
Rose hips are a smashing choice to add to your adult drinks like Rose Hip Whiskey Smash Cocktail!
They make a delightful Spiced Hawthorn Rose Hip Mead, can become a homemade Rose Hip Wine, or this beautiful Hibiscus & Rosehip Cocktail.
You can also infuse rose hips in wine! This rose hip and reishi mushroom infused wine is delicious and also has some medicinal benefits.
Rose Hip Breakfast & Baked Goods
Be ready for whatever icky germs come your way in a day when you start it with a few rose hips in your breakfast. Try a Blueberry Turmeric Breakfast Bowl made with rose hip powder, Rose hip Muesli in your cereal bowl, or a Rosehip Spread on your biscuits.
Bake with rose hips and try a Rosehip Pain au Levain. For a quick choice try Rosehip Jam & Lemon Zest Muffins. Yes, you can even make Rosehip Donuts!
Rose Hip Dessert Recipes
Check it out! Rose hips make for some tasty treats! (Does this mean we can snack guilt-free?) With Raw Rosehip Cookies I think that’s exactly what it means.
Perhaps shortbread is more your thing? There are Almond Rosehip Shortbread Cookies for you. I’m looking forward to baking Walnut & Rosehip Jam Bars.
If you’re looking for something a bit fancier, try Rosehip Hibiscus Macaroons or Rosehip Iced Gem Meringues.
If you’re not a cookie person, Rosehip Custard Tart may be more your style. It is a lovely custard in a shortbread crust and topped with a rosehip honey glaze.
Or since it’s apple season, you might be in the mood for Apple Pastry topped with Rosehip Cream.
Let your DESSERT be your medicine! Rosehip Chia Seed Pudding are made with rose hips (obviously) as well as tart cherry juice, coconut milk, honey, chia seeds, and cinnamon. Nothing but good stuff there!
Strawberry Rosehip Frozen Yogurt is made with coconut milk & honey. Such a healthy choice! A little less tangy, a little more crunchy is Strawberry Rosehip Granola Ice Cream and it sounds yummy!
Boost your immunity this germ season with homemade Vitamin C gummies! Perfect for all ages, these gummies are packed with real food goodness from oranges, acerola cherries, and rose hips.
They’re a tasty way to stay healthy!
Rose Hip Sauces & Soup
Rose hips are perfect for making your homemade condiments a little healthier. They make a great Wild Rosehip BBQ Sauce or Rosehip Ketchup. A perfect addition to the sauce you make with the last tomatoes of the growing season!
You can also make a Rosehip Vinegar and “pimp your salad with superfoods” Rosehip Salad Dressing. Think of rose hips when you’re making your next simple syrup. Rosehip & Ginger Simple Syrup sounds to-die-for!
Don’t forget Rose Hip Soup! This traditional recipe from Sweden is sweet and usually eaten as a dessert. Yum!
Preserving Rose Hips
Want to put up rose hips for later in the season? (It’s a really good idea. Cold and flu season lasts waaaay longer than the harvest window, for sure!) The simplest way may be to make Dried Rosehip Powder to sprinkle over your meals for a little extra nutrition.
While we’re dehydrating, try sugar-free Rosehip Fruit Leather.
Rose hips make wonderful preserves from simple Rosehip Jelly to seasonal jams like Rosehip Jam with Apples.
Combine rose hips with cranberries for the holidays in recipes like Rose hip Cranberry Compote and Rose Hip, Cranberry, and Crabapple Chutney.
Rose Hip Herbal Remedies
If you’re outside of the appropriate climate for growing citrus, growing roses should be considered as your next best alternative for the vitamin content alone. (Rosa rugosa varieties have some of the largest fruits).
Rose hip syrup is highly medicinal and also includes the benefits of raw honey! Use it like regular syrup on pancakes or yogurt, or to ease a sore throat or calm a cough.
Rose hips are a fantastic choice for herbal teas and other formulas when you’re looking to boost immunity. Try a simple Rosehip Tea, an Immunity-Building Vitamin C Tea, or an immune system kick-in-the-pants with Echinacea, Rose & Rosehip Tea.
I have an immune boosting tea blend that I like to keep on hand that includes rose hips.
Rose hips can be added to your elderberry syrup like this Elderberry Syrup with Rosehips & Astragalus. Your children will love Vitamin C Popsicles and so will their immune systems all the while making sure they stay hydrated.
And don’t forget to add rose hips to your medicine cabinet in the form of a salve with this Elderflower Rosehip Salve.
All-Natural Rose Hip Beauty Recipes
Rose hips could easily be incorporated into a complete head-to-toe beauty regime. Starting from the top with a Rosehip Scalp Serum. It’s wonderful for fine hair.
Many of these recipes are focused on creations using rose hip seed oil (which has a wonderful feel on the skin and isn’t heavy or greasy like other oils.) This is particularly important if you’ll be using it on your delicate facial skin like when using a serum such as Rosehip Facial Oil or Rosehip Carrot Seed Facial Serum.
Rose hips can also be used to improve your complexion when you make a Rosehip Turmeric Face Mask followed by a Geranium Rosehip Facial Cleanser and a Rosehip Skin Tonic.
If the skin around your eyes needs a little extra TLC, watch your it improve after using Rosehip & Honey Anti-Aging Eye Treatment or one of many face cream recipes out there featuring rosehips.
Rosehip Ginseng Face Cream, Aloe Rose Anti-Aging Cream, and Pomegranate Rosehip Face Moisturizer are some of my favorites. Sometimes though, you just need to keep things simple and go with a Rosehip Facial Moisturizer.
The rest of your body can benefit from a little rose hip love too! They make great bath bombs, like Rosehip Bath Bomb, body scrubs, such as Rosehip Lavender Body Scrub, and luxurious body butter with Wild Rose Body Butter.
Let’s not forget the lips! Rose hip Lip Balm is my go-to lip balm to keep my lips able to stand up to the sun and wind while I’m out foraging… for more rose hips, of course.
Rose Hip Soap is excellent and nourishing for delicate skin, and is also beautiful!
Will you be foraging for rose hips this fall? Which recipe are you most looking forward to trying?
Can you make a ferment with honey and rosehips?
Absolutely!
I’ve been a bit nervous to use the rosehips from my bushes because they don’t all come available at once, and I’m confused about how to handle them as far as the little hairs are concerned once they’re dried.
If I want to dry my rosehips (which are on the larger side) and then use the dried ones later, when and how do I deal with the hairs?
Hi Rachel. After the rosehips are dried, you can shake them around in a jar before sifting the hairs through a fine strainer.
Gratitude for all of these wonderful recipes!
You’re welcome!