Stop And Taste The Rose Hips

Rose hips dusted with snow.

I went out for a hike the other day. The sun was shining, and I needed to clear my head.

While I was walking through the snow, I came across bush after bush full of rose hips.

Now, it wasn't until a few weeks ago, while we were sledding, that I even knew what rose hips were.

Of course, I'd heard of rose hips -- used in tea, jam, wine, and soup -- but I guess I'd never really come across any, or realized that I'd come across any.

It was our good friend Tanya Kancheva who, between sledding runs, plucked a few rose hips from a bush and told us to try them.

It's pretty amazing how many rose hips there are out in the wilds of Prague.

Almost every other bush seems to be filled with rose hips. Frankly, I don't remember seeing that many rose bushes in the wild when I've been out riding. Weird.

And I guess they stay firmly glued to the bush almost all winter. Even today, the rose bushes are filled with them. You'd think they'd either fall off or get eaten by birds or something.

The rose hips were incredibly sweet. I could definitely taste the possibilities for jam or marmelade. Not sure about the wine, but I wouldn't pass a glass up, that's for sure.

I wonder how hard rose hip wine is to make.

The only problem is that each hip has about 1,500 seeds. The pulp-to-seed ratio is nothing to write home about. It's like a mini-pomegranate.

But I love the fact that you can be out walking in the middle of winter and pick a few rose hips off a bush and experience a little sweetness on your tongue.


Bushes covered with rose hips are everywhere out in the woods. I just don't remember seeing so many roses in nice weather.


A church in Únětice, a neighboring village.


The path from my house in Černý Vůl to Únětice.