www.eatweeds.co.uk
Iff there 50% fat like most seeds n nuts they be worth getting for sure there bigger than Himalayan balsam seeds and they are high in energy .I think it's quantity that might be your downfall.
Y'see, we can eat apple pips, and not kill ourselves, BUT, don't eat too many of them.
The apocryphyl story goes that a prisoner who was given an apple a day saved the seeds, and when he had an eggcup full, he ate them, and killed himself with cyanide poisoning.
We know that there are similar things in rosehip seeds, but, the seeds are used as painkillers for arthritis, and appear effective.
This is a link to Eat the Weeds, which is generally pretty sound
There is an article on the very seeds, and loads of links that are worth following and reading.
Are rose hip seeds poisonous?
Some species of Rosaceae family do contain a small amount of cyanide. However, I can find no reference in any scientific journals stating that rose hip (Rosa canina) seeds are toxic.
Personally, having eaten and prepped all sorts of things with rosehips over the years, I find the wee hairs are not easy to remove.
Even well made rosehip syrup, hold it up to the light, and you'll often see those wee hairs floating, almost invisible, but there in the syrup.
I know, I'm fussy, so these days if I want rosehip flesh, I use a sharp knife and I peel them, thus avoiding the digestive track irritant that is the hairs. You can freeze the flesh afterward to mimic frost if desired.
As for the seeds, I think it's the rabbit starvation thing again. The effort involved, and the amount you'd need to eat, and mind we don't have a digestive system that will manage those without cracking them, or be able to digest all the nutrient that is technically available. So, energy output vs that gained.....hmmm.
Me ? I'd add it into the list of things I can pick and munch as I wander, but I wouldn't make a meal of it.
M
So each seed only contains 3% fat ? Then they are n not worth collecting, I was getting excited thinking it was a potential staple food like the pine nut At 50% fat per nut and are a similar size .There must be a efficient way to remove the hairs ,they sell large bags off clean seeds online.Himalayan balsam though produce millions of seeds that are gatherable for just swiping a bit of net through them....kid's fishing net is brilliant, but you can bend a bit of stick and knot something through it....a sock for instance....and it'll do very well indeed
Really no energy loss, and all gain.
Rosehips aren't so simple. Eat the whole thing and you can shred your guts because of those wee hairs which are highly irritating to the digestive tract. Especially if you're eating lots of them. We're not foxes or badgers, iimmc ?
Each wee rosehip seed will yield about 3% oil, not 50.
If it were fifty then they would be harvested for more than cosmetics, and they don't give up their oil easily.
It's the energy expended for what is gained conundrum.
Fine for most of us out for a ramble, or a forage, but not the ideal on a survival diet.
Add it in to the mix.
Like a lot of mass produced food it probably uses a lot of water and energy?
Yeh I guess the hairs are like asbestosI think so.
We can do it, but it needs care or you can really give yourself a miserable time.
I tried scooping them out and into a metal flour sieve. They're sort of damp when they come out of the hips, even if the hips aren't frosted.
So, while I dealt with the flesh to make syrup I put the sievefull outside in the fresh air to dry off a bit.
They did, but the hairs when I rattled the sieve ended up in the air around me and I thought, "Oh, oh, I do not want those in my lungs!", so I kind of abandoned that idea.
I think I'd get the same effect if I rubbed them off.
I thought of washing them under running water, and that did work, but the seeds went sticky again.......you can see the theme of frustration here.
I reckon that the best way is to just crush the whole hip, seeds and all, bring it just up to the boil and take it off the heat, set it aside for a bit and then strain, strain, and strain again.
You'll get the liquid to make syrup and any oil will float on the top where it can be scooped off, hopefully minus the damned hairs.
Pretty sure that commercial rosehip syrup makers didn't peel every rosehip, I reckon they just minced the lot, and then found themselves with enough 'oil' to make it worth their while finding uses for it.
Cynical ? me ?
