After your lovely roses finish blooming, you might notice fairly large "pods" developing where the flowers once stood. These are called rose hips, and they are a popular ingredient in herbal tea blends because of their good taste and high vitamin C content. In addition to being a nutritious food, rose hips also contain an oil called rosa mosqueta that is beneficial for the skin when you need to treat scars, eczema, burns, dry skin and wrinkles. You can extract some of the oil at home by making a classic herbal oil from the rose hips.
Instructions
Extracting Oil From Rose Hips
1. Collect fresh rose hips in fall after your first frost if you want to use fresh rose hips for your oil. If it's more convenient to purchase dried rose hips, they are acceptable for making into oil as well. Pick or purchase enough rose hips to fill a quart jar about one-third full.
2. Rinse your rose hips to remove any dirt or unwanted plant material. Set them on a kitchen towel and allow them to dry for about one hour, and then slice them in half lengthwise.
3. Fill the canning jar about one-third full with rose hips and then fill it to the top with the carrier oil of your choice. Olive oil, almond oil and grapeseed oil are acceptable oils, all of which are beneficial for the skin.
4. Transfer the rose hips and oil to a crock-pot or non-metallic baking dish. Pyrex works well, but be sure your dish has a snug-fitting lid. Preheat your oven to its lowest temperature, usually 150 or 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow your mixture to slowly cook for three hours. An alternate method, which uses no gas or electricity, is to place your covered canning jar in the sun for one week to 10 days, depending on the temperature: the warmer the days, the less time it takes for the oil to extract from the rose hips.
5. Strain your oil mixture after it cools by pouring it through a sieve. If you line the sieve with cheesecloth or a nylon stocking, these materials will filter out small pieces of the hips.
6. Add one teaspoon of vitamin E oil to each quart of finished oil. It will serve as a natural preservative and will also benefit your skin.
7. Store your finished oil in a tightly sealed glass jar in a cool, dark place, such as under your kitchen sink. Or bottle it in small glass bottles with dropper tops for ease of use and gift-giving. Label the contents and include the date. For long-term storage, keep your rose hips oil in the refrigerator.
Tags: rose hips, rose hips, about one-third, about one-third full, beneficial skin,