Rosa sp. - rose hips (fruit) (4809' N 1633' E)

Description:

2011-11-19 Vienna XXII. district, Lobau - Danube National Park (153 msm Quadrant 7865/1).German name: Hagebutte; (dialect) Hetschnbetschn, HetschibetschiThe fruit are delicious even eaten fresh, if only they're old enough (they get better after first frosts!): they're hard and don't taste much if you pick them too early, but they're sweet enough if you only take the dark ones.Strangely enough - or so it seems to me - most people don't know that you can eat them raw too; most only know its uses for herbal tea, jam, jelly and so on.The only annoying thing about eating them raw are the seeds inside, of which there are more than anybody would care for. My strategy, when eating them raw, is to chew the stuff till the sweet taste is gone (till all the good stuff has gone down my drain, so to speak), and then spit the seeds out. Not very elegant, admittedly, and not very appetising either, but it works.