Fresh ROSE HIPS?? Where can I buy some to make jam

[sysco kid]

Anything local to boston?
I need about 10-20#

[yarm]

Most herb stores will either have dried flower petals or the essential oil (or products made from those), not the fruit to make jam out of. Also, the fruit, from what I recall, isn't ripe until August or so around here.

Have you thought of harvesting some yourself when they come into season? If it were less that 10-20 pounds, I'd recommend the Porter Square Star Market parking lot (although you could probably harvest a few pounds there). Otherwise, some beaches have endless numbers of them.

http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/

[Parsnipity]

You beat me to it! I was just going to suggest the parking lot.

[somervilleoldtimer]

Yes, me too!

[okra]

Great idea, just the wrong time of year. Find most any beach come September, and pick away! Hint, wear some gloves - this is a truly evil plant in terms of thorns!

[sysco kid]

thanks everyone...I'll just wait until late summer...ugh

[Aromatherapy]

There are a bunch of rose bushes along the paths at Fresh Pond.

[StriperGuy]

YESSSSS half of Cape Code and the North Shore are COVERED with them. I start to see ripe ones in late July.

[okra]

I was fortunate enough to taste a liqueur made from them too - not hard, vodka, sugar, and time, strain...

[StriperGuy]

Enlighten me. I have plucked them off the bush, when ripe, and gnawed on them. Slightly tart flavor, sandy texture, but not a whole lot going on really. Never quite understood the point of making jam from them.

Did the liquer really taste like anyting?

[okra]

I know, tasting them is something you do once as a kid, and file it away in the "Well, that was a waste" folder. Certainly tart, tons of seeds and a tough skin, but - in the late fall, they cook down to an almost - plum like flavor (duh). I can't see ever making a wine from them, as the fermentation would scrub all the aromatics, but but steeping it in alcohol, ala limoncello leeches out the fruitiness. Getting the sugar ratio correct requires some tasting is all.

And, as with a lot of the best memories, it might've been the setting. A friend of my brothers' old house on the cape, a homemade drink from a recycled bottle.... But, I've made it since, and enjoyed it...

[StriperGuy]

Gotcha, I have nibbled them late in the year as well and the flavor does get a bit frutier...

Thanks.

[bear]

Rose hip tea is delicious, and supposedly full of Vitamin C.

[dfrostnh]

Cooking with rose hips isn't unusual in Alaska. Saw one recipe for making a bbq sauce/ketchup.

[food_lubber]

you might want to check out Cambridge Naturals, located in a shopping plaza in Porter Square. They have a pretty large selection of hard to find herbs.