Okay, I promise this is the last time you’ll be seeing rosehips here. Haha!

Lessons learned from a overeager weekend forager: Rugosa rosehips may seem ripe, but if you wait a few more weeks, their colors deepen even more, and they get a little softer. Debate is still out whether their flavor deepens, too, although I’d like to think so. I still might need to do one more taste test after this!

Even though I made something with rosehips very recently, I wanted to use a simpler recipe that put the rosehips front and center, now that I noticed the rosehips around these parts are riper. It was really to see if I could notice their flavor. Ben says he notices it, but I still don’t have a clear idea what they taste like! If I were to make this again, I’d probably add less orange zest and juice, or might even eliminate those altogether, because orange was the only flavor I could discern. Or are rosehips just orange flavored? I hope not.

I’m coming to realize that even with 7 ounces of prepared, chopped up, ripe rosehips, the flavor is not very pronounced. Oh well. Maybe my tastebuds are just shot after all these years! Ha! At the very least, this quick bread has a great texture and color and is good with coffee or tea. Plus, you could brag to all you serve it to that you foraged for rosehips just for them.

rosehip nut bread 

ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar, divided use

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest and juice from one orange

1/4 cup butter, melted, cooled

1 egg

24 rosehips, stems/bottoms removed, seeded, cleaned, chopped (7 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

method

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan. Set aside.

Juice and zest one orange and set aside.

In one bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and 1/2 cup of the sugar, reserving the rest of the sugar for later, with a whisk several times and set aside.

Clean rosehips, removing the bottoms and stems, cutting in half and scooping out the seeds and hairy inner parts, rinse and dry. If the rosehips are really soft and ripe, it helps to freeze them before cleaning and de-seeding.

Add the prepared rosehips into a food processor, add the remaining 1/2 cup of the sugar, the melted butter, the egg, the milk, the vanilla extract, and the zest and juice from the one orange. Pulse or mix together until smooth.

Add the wet contents from the food processor to the dry flour mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the walnuts, if using. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let the bread cool in the loaf pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove from pan and slice. Bread keeps well for a few days wrapped well at room temperature. Enjoy!