What are these?

[Helsbells]

Also on the same foraging trip, found these, any ideas?

[kit-e-kate]

Rosehips of some sort, i think. We've got a few like that round here. : )

[John Headstrong]

Could be an ornamental type called Rosa rugosa that councils grow everywhere that isn't edible. They have much bigger, flashier flowers.

Otherwise soil conditions or weather can produce black / purple cultivars of wild plants like rosehip/wild rose and elderberry.

Just be careful tasting the fruit - try a tiny piece of the flesh against your skin and wait a few minutes. Any tingling or burning, wash with lots of water, quickly! if that's ok, try against your lip. then try chewing a bit. (better safe than sorry...I did once try eating the fruit from the ornamental type, very bitter and impossible to get rid of the taste for hours!)

[Helsbells]

Hmmmm think I will give them a miss just to be sure. Hacve pleanty of red ones anyway.

Thanks for your help.
Helen
x

[Hedgehogpie]

Rosa rugosa hips are entirely edible* and can be used in exactly the same ways as wild rosehips, they're just larger, fleshier and ripen earlier (which I find handy as it lengthens the foraging season for hips and I do like to make bucketloads of syrup to eat with natural yogurt).

However, these aren't rosa rugosa hips. They are the purple black hips of the Scots' or Burnet Rose*
(Rosa spinosissima). Use them as you would any other rosehips - although they are small and just a little a bit fiddly to process - they will give you a pleasingly dark burgundy coloured syrup which I do like to make whenever I manage to get hold of some. I think you're lucky!

A while ago there was a thread packed with plenty of rosehip recipes to try out. I'm sure if you ask one of the mods very nicely they'll post a link to it for you.


* http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Rosa+rugosa
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php ... nellifolia

[Millymollymandy]

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 23&t=14857

It was only halfway down the page!

Good having you around Hedgehogpie.

[Hedgehogpie]

Thank you for that! I know it couldn't have been far away but you know what it's like wading through loads of topics when you're looking for something.