Tags
berry picking, herbal tea, immune-boosting tea, Lucy, rose hips, rosehip tea, rosehips, tea, vitamin C, winter tea
I like to let the tea steep overnight and the next day make a delicious rosehip ice tea with a squeeze of lemon. ~Beverley Gray, Aroma Borealis
Last evening, we brought our berry picking baskets with us on the evening walk. The rosehips have been turning bright red, beckoning us cheerfully along the trail and letting us know that they are ready for picking. As I still have many jars of rosehip jelly and syrup from last summer I have decided to simply freeze this year’s berries and use them for winter teas.
I pull the ends off of the hips before freezing in large ziplock bags so that they are ready for use straight from the freezer. Then, when I am feeling under the weather in the winter months I can dip into the bag for a quick immune-boosting tea. Click here for a previous post on the medicinal and nutritional benefits of rosehips, or recipes for rosehip jelly and rosehip syrup.
For the tea, I use about half a cup of hips to about six cups of water. I allow the tea to steep on the stove on low heat for a few hours and add agave nectar (to taste) to sweeten.
Lucy also kept us company on the trail. She is a handy berry-picking companion as she is always on the alert for coyotes or the rare bear. She also keeps the spruce grouse, mice and pocket gophers busy!