Rosehips

Sure they can be used, but they're very high in citric acid... gonna be tart. They'll be more a flavoring than a source of alcohol, since very little sugar in 'em... essentially all your alcohol would have to come from sugar.

Gene

Robert wrote:

The black ones are spoiled, so skip those. The red ones have the most rosehip flavor -- kind of a sweet/tart citrusy-rose taste, try 'em and see. The very mushy ones may already be spoiled as well. The pink and orange ones aren't ripe yet, and will add too much "green" flavor.

Rosehip wine is a favorite here on the newsgroup, see this search result:

Most references specify long ageing, 2 years in the bottle minimum, 3 or more is better. Jack Keller says(

I made a batch of rosehip wine a year ago. And its thrown a lot of sediment in the botlle, I had a problem with cloudyness after sulfiting the sorbated, sweetened, clear wine. I may rack off this sediment and blend some more I make this year, then rebottle to age 2 more years.

Could the black ones be a different kind? The only black ones I saw were all together on a bush with no other colours (I have seen this a few times).

Out of > Robert wrote:

I've seen black, orange, red, and mushy red ones all together on the same wild rose bush in front of my house. I only used the red ones to make my wine. Taste a ripe one, then taste the others to see what's spoilt or not.

If you google rose hips, you'll choke your browser on subjects like rose hip tea, rose hip syrup, rose hip jam, etc. You may be the first to talk about soft drinks, but probaly not the first to make one.

On the subject of eating rose hip fruits and jams. I should warn you that the French call the fruit "gratte-cul", and Native Americans have similar names. The fine hairs surrounding the seeds don't digest, so the tend to embed themselves, ...uhh... and you end up itchy ... ummm ... at the end ... hmmm ... of it all.

I'll give eating them a miss :)