BEAUTY IS AS BEAUTY DOES - CULINARY AND MEDICINAL USE OF ROSEHIPS

Abstract

The ornamental value of the rose flower is well-known, but rose plants have long been appreciated also for their fruits, the rosehips. These rosehips are sometimes harvested from cultivated or, more commonly, wild or naturalized stands to produce juice, dessert soup, jelly and other tasty products. Rosehips of especially the dogroses, i.e., Rosa sect. Caninae, have recently enjoyed a renewed interest due to their very high levels of antioxidant compounds, mainly polyphenols, but also carotenoids and vitamins B, C and E. Other important rosehip-producing species are found in sections Rosa and Gallicanae, as well as R. roxburghii in subgenus Platyrhodon. Medicinal preparations are presently produced and marketed for the treatment of, e.g., osteoarthritis and various stomach problems. The seeds contain high contents of unsaturated fatty acids, which are used for production of oils for skin treatment and as cosmetics. The amount and composition of bioactive compounds in rosehips vary greatly with genotype and environment. Breeding of improved dogrose genotypes or of intersectional hybrids is, however, complicated by the unique canina meiosis, resulting in widely different offspring in reciprocal crosses, and occasionally also producing offspring by apomixis.