When the hips are collected and how to determine the preparation time

Probably, every person has heard about how useful are the hips of the dog rose. They are very long and widely used in traditional and folk medicine. Broths and infusions of rose hips are an effective tool for treating many ailments. In addition, in the cold season, they allow you to replenish the body's vitamin deficiency. Only the ascorbic acid in the hips of the dog rose contains almost 50 times more than in lemons, and 10 times than in the black currant, not to mention other useful compounds. Of course, you can buy ready-to-eat dried fruit, but there can be no certainty about the ecological purity of purchased raw materials. Therefore, it is better to prepare them yourself. However, you need to know when to collect the hips.

The National Calendar

According to popular beliefs, the dog rose must be prepared from October 1, that is, on the day of Arina Shipovnitsa. However, you can not blindly follow these prescriptions. Because this representative of the flora grows in different climatic zones and conditions, and, therefore, the time of its ripening in different regions may differ. Therefore, the time when collecting rose hips in a specific geographical area, you need to determine on an individual basis. The onset of the moment of collection depends on what effect a person wants to receive.

Briar - harvest time

A very important role is played by the purpose for which a person collects fruits. The longer the berries remain on the branches, the less they retain ascorbic acid, but the percentage of sugars increases. These changes in the composition of the fruit are easily determined visually. The darker the color of berries, the more sugar in them and less vitamin C. When collecting the hips, depends on what prefers the prefect.

It should be understood that minus temperatures accelerate changes in the composition of berries: reduce the level of vitamin C and increase the percentage of sugars. Therefore, if a person needs more sweet fruits, you should wait for a cold snap. However, the most useful berries must be harvested as they mature. In the northern geographic areas, they can begin to be harvested as early as late summer, when the fruits are colored orange or red. When collecting rose hips in the more southerly latitudes, depends on the weather and the time of the onset of cold weather.

To determine the time of harvesting berries with the highest content of ascorbic acid, you need to pay attention to how the fruit sepals are located. Collection of rose hips should start when they are pricked. Because this is a sign of the maximum content of vitamins. If sepals adhere to berries, it means that they are not mature enough.

For preparing the most suitable hard and large fruit bright colors. The content of useful substances in them is much higher than in softened berries. To keep more fruits in the fruit, you need to tear them from the branches along with the flower bud and peduncle. Freshly picked berries retain their useful properties for not more than three days. Therefore, as soon as possible, start drying them, which is carried out at a temperature of 60-80 ° C.