While riding my bike along the Rhine River, I found a treasure of rose hip (Rosa canina). Rose hip is the fruit of the wild roses.
I was so happy to find so many rose hip fruits, because they are difficult to find in ordinary grocery stores. So foraging is often your best chance to try these tasty foods.
And of course another advantage of foraged food is that is free.
Fresh rosehip contain a lot of vitamin C. Other beneficial compounds include vitamin A, Vitamin E, B complex as well as minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium.
It’s amazing how much free fruits I found, and not so far away from my home.
Here it's a view of the Rhine River...
By gathering these delicious wild fruits with your own hands, you are making a connection with the plant, with nature.
Being able to feed myself with fruits picked by my own hands has made me more aware and in touched with nature, more grounded.
Because the rose hip fruits contain so much vitamin C, they are an amazing way of boosting your immune system. So they are a healthy way to prevent colds or flues, now that the cold season is approaching.
They also contain powerful antioxidants which eliminate and neutralize free radicals from our bodies.
Another great thing about these tiny red fruits is that they prevent stomach irritation and ulcers. So not only that I enjoy eating them, they also help me, as I have always had stomach pains.
Rose hips grow in shrubs and bushes, 1-3 meters and are covered with thorns and long stems, like every rose. The fruits can be picked from July until late September.
Here you can see the thorns of the wild rose.
Luckily I managed to not get stung in them
If you like to eat them raw, as I do, you need to be careful cause they contain lots of tiny hairs.
I think it’s really amazing that you can find nutritious fruits just by simply wandering around.
