I fancy manking some rosehip wine. There are lots around at the
moment. My question is ... can any be used? On a walk down a (UK)
canal on Sunday I say: large pink rose hips, last orange rose hips,
small (10mm) oval rosehips and a black small rosehip. Some of the
large red ones were very soft. Can any/all be used
--

Rob Chafer
Silverfrost

Sure they can be used, but they're very high in citric acid... gonna be
tart. They'll be more a flavoring than a source of alcohol, since very
little sugar in 'em... essentially all your alcohol would have to come
from sugar.

Gene

Robert wrote:
> I fancy manking some rosehip wine. There are lots around at the
> moment. My question is ... can any be used? On a walk down a (UK)
> canal on Sunday I say: large pink rose hips, last orange rose hips,
> small (10mm) oval rosehips and a black small rosehip. Some of the
> large red ones were very soft. Can any/all be used
> --
>
> Rob Chafer
> Silverfrost

Robert wrote:
> I fancy manking some rosehip wine. There are lots around at the
> moment. My question is ... can any be used? On a walk down a (UK)
> canal on Sunday I say: large pink rose hips, last orange rose hips,
> small (10mm) oval rosehips and a black small rosehip. Some of the
> large red ones were very soft. Can any/all be used
> --
>
> Rob Chafer
> Silverfrost

The black ones are spoiled, so skip those. The red ones have the most
rosehip flavor -- kind of a sweet/tart citrusy-rose taste, try 'em and
see. The very mushy ones may already be spoiled as well. The pink and
orange ones aren't ripe yet, and will add too much "green" flavor.

Rosehip wine is a favorite here on the newsgroup, see this search
result:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...rch+this+group

Most references specify long ageing, 2 years in the bottle minimum, 3
or more is better. Jack Keller says(
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques46.asp )that young rosehip wine
is practically undrinkable. Hence the abundance of rosehip melomel
recipies in the search.

I made a batch of rosehip wine a year ago. And its thrown a lot of
sediment in the botlle, I had a problem with cloudyness after sulfiting
the sorbated, sweetened, clear wine. I may rack off this sediment and
blend some more I make this year, then rebottle to age 2 more years.

Could the black ones be a different kind? The only black ones I saw
were all together on a bush with no other colours (I have seen this a
few times).

Out of interest... is it easy to make soft drinks with rose hips (not
a wine question I know...)?

wrote:

> Robert wrote:
> > I fancy manking some rosehip wine. There are lots around at the
> > moment. My question is ... can any be used? On a walk down a (UK)
> > canal on Sunday I say: large pink rose hips, last orange rose hips,
> > small (10mm) oval rosehips and a black small rosehip. Some of the
> > large red ones were very soft. Can any/all be used
> > --
> >
> > Rob Chafer
> > Silverfrost
>
> The black ones are spoiled, so skip those. The red ones have the most
> rosehip flavor -- kind of a sweet/tart citrusy-rose taste, try 'em and
> see. The very mushy ones may already be spoiled as well. The pink and
> orange ones aren't ripe yet, and will add too much "green" flavor.
>
> Rosehip wine is a favorite here on the newsgroup, see this search
> result:
> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...rch+this+group
>
> Most references specify long ageing, 2 years in the bottle minimum, 3
> or more is better. Jack Keller says(
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques46.asp )that young rosehip wine
> is practically undrinkable. Hence the abundance of rosehip melomel
> recipies in the search.
>
> I made a batch of rosehip wine a year ago. And its thrown a lot of
> sediment in the botlle, I had a problem with cloudyness after sulfiting
> the sorbated, sweetened, clear wine. I may rack off this sediment and
> blend some more I make this year, then rebottle to age 2 more years.
--

Rob Chafer
Silverfrost

Robert wrote:
> Could the black ones be a different kind? The only black ones I saw
> were all together on a bush with no other colours (I have seen this a
> few times).

I've seen black, orange, red, and mushy red ones all together on the
same wild rose bush in front of my house. I only used the red ones to
make my wine. Taste a ripe one, then taste the others to see what's
spoilt or not.

>
> Out of interest... is it easy to make soft drinks with rose hips (not
> a wine question I know...)?
>

If you google rose hips, you'll choke your browser on subjects like
rose hip tea, rose hip syrup, rose hip jam, etc. You may be the first
to talk about soft drinks, but probaly not the first to make one.

On the subject of eating rose hip fruits and jams. I should warn you
that the French call the fruit "gratte-cul", and Native Americans have
similar names. The fine hairs surrounding the seeds don't digest, so
the tend to embed themselves, ...uhh... and you end up itchy ... ummm
.... at the end ... hmmm ... of it all.

I'll give eating them a miss
--

Rob Chafer
Silverfrost