Rose-hip Hairs…aka Itching Powder
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I gathered another load of rose-hips on Friday and processed them into tea over the weekend. When making tea it’s not such a big deal to leave the seeds in so it took me a lot less time than when making rose-hip powder a couple of weeks ago. What I wanted to point out this time though is the amount of itchy hairs that have been removed versus how much tea you’ll end up with.
Rose-hips have a delicate fruity taste that I find delicious on a cold day. But when making it yourself you really have to beware of the tiny hairs that line the inside of the fruit and often times cover the seeds. These hairs are literally itching powder and let me tell you that they’re uncomfortable enough when they come into contact with your skin, let alone ingesting them!
Fortunately they’re quite easy to remove once the rose-hips have been thoroughly dried – simply pulse the rosehips to a coarse texture and then sieve them out using a fine-mesh strainer. Tossing and rolling the pulse around for about a minute or so will allow the hairs to easily slip through the mesh, leaving the majority of your tea inside.
Rose-hip hairs
My sister used to make rose hip itching powder a lot. And it would end of up ground into the insoles of my sneakers many times. lol. I would know it when my toes started to twitch and the tops of my feet started to itch. lol.
Itch away Maggie! ;)
lol reading this post made me itch! I hope you enjoy the tea but I need to go scratch now!
Hi Angie – I completely understand! My skin crawls when I see the close-up picture of the hairs!
Hi Pat :) I have made syrup before and it is tasty. But I found that we didn't actually use it much and I ended up dumping what I had left into a wine recipe. Do you make it yourself? Maybe you could give me some pointers on good recipes using rose-hip syrup?
I had to scratch my hand a bit when I was reading 'itching powder'. LOL
I love rosehips…not totally crazy about them, but I do enjoy things fruity, natural and good-for-you!
This sounds a brave venture! Do you ever make syrup?
That's good to know Heiko!
I shall be picking my rosehips next month up in the mountains. I've made rosehip wine adding oranges and it turned out quite delicious.
Hi Dani :) Rose-hip hairs ARE itching powder – they're the main constituent anyway. But the skins and flesh of the fruit are packed full of all kinds of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and bioflavonoids…they're also good for women's health.
Thanks for visiting my blog Miss Lovely Tanya Greens. Your blog looks interesting so I have jumped aboard. Love the idea of the wild flower meadow/s.
Very interesting, Tanya. Do you only use rose hips for tea? I have see Vitamin C tablets with Rose Hips. Wonder what the benefits of rose hips are?
I wonder if the hairs are used to make itching powder?
Hi Mo – I was going to say something about that in the post but thought it might give ideas any kids googling rose-hip itching powder! Lol! Did you ever have any personal experiences with rose-hips being thrown down your top? I'll bet it was awful!
Hi Ben – No I've never tried it but my gut feeling is that rose-hips must contain a lot of tannin maybe making the wine a bit sharp? A friend of mine just made a batch of gorse wine – have you ever had a go at it yourself? I haven't sampled it yet but she says that it's also quite bland unfortunately.
I worried about the hairs when I first made Rosehip Syrup. As kids we all knew the itchy quality of Rosehips, and many were put down peoples necks ;)
Have you ever tried making Rosehip wine? If so, was it any good? I have done it twice, and both times it has been indifferent – nothing actively wrong with it (except for being too dry, which is remediable with a sugar solution), but overall it was bland.