Rose hip season is still a couple of months out here, but I'm setting up my drying racks early this year because last fall taught me some lessons the hard way.
What worked for me last season:
- Harvesting after the first light frost - the hips sweeten noticeably, but if you wait too long they go soft and mushy on the shrub.
- Halving the bigger hips before drying. Whole hips took two weeks plus to air dry and a few molded from the inside; halved ones were done in days.
- Low and slow in the dehydrator, around 95-105 F. A friend did hers in the oven at 200 F and they went dark brown and lost most of the tart flavor.
- Storing them whole (seeds in) and only grinding right before use - they seem to keep their tartness and vitamin C much better that way.
The itchy mistake: I de-seeded a big batch by hand without gloves. The fine hairs around the seeds are a genuine skin irritant - kids used to use them as itching powder - and I spent the whole evening regretting it. Gloves, or just leave the seeds in for tea.
I wrote up the full process with temperatures and timings here if it's useful:
https://growforageheal.com/drying-rose-hips/
Curious what others do - do you bother de-seeding for tea, or just crush and strain? And does anyone harvest before frost on purpose?
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