All rose hips are edible. When I started taking up foraging, I grew to love simple and blanketing rules like those. All grasses are edible. Never eat what’s growing on dead wood. Foraging for rose hips was a great thing to do after the frost when the hips are soft and sweet. The snow had crisped these perfectly into a sticky sweet mess.

Foraging for Sweetbriar Rose Hips

Sweetbriar is one of my favorite wild plants on the Palouse. It grows into a huge Dr. Suess-esque bush that pops up out of nowhere in the fields. The vines curve and form natural tunnels. The plants get so big you feel like you’re in Alice in Wonderland.

We found a huge sweetbriar bush that was filled with hips.

You can pull the hips right off the plant, just like picking blackberries or raspberries. This actually felt a lot like the winter version of berry-picking.

Wash the rose hips and cut off the ends where it connected to the plant.

You can turn these into sweetbriar tea, syrup, or dry them to add to food later.

They dry within a day or so and the seeds can be turned into bird feed, or placed back outside to grow new plants!

Forage responsibly, and never pick all of the resources off of a plant. Picking rose hips can actually help a plant grow because it acts like a regular trimming.

Do you forage? Have you tried sweetbriar rose hips?

 

Photos: Elizabeth Adan

By Elizabeth Adan

Elizabeth Adan is a Freelance Writer, Publicist and Brand Ambassador. Her blog Aquaberry Bliss is a unique food and travel blog dedicated to expanding your world and inspiring your creativity. When Elizabeth isn’t traveling, you’ll find her writing, hiking or gardening. Find Elizabeth on Twitter @stillaporcupine and on LinkedIn.

*Follow with Bloglovin*