Reilly,
The picking color totally depends on the cultivar.
Rugosas, in my garden, make two crops of hips, one midsummer and one in late fall. Someday, we'll have wet weather and the hips will make lots of flesh. In recent years, there has been so little 'meat' that by the time I use a catanloupe baller to take the fuzzy stuff out (the fuzzy stuff was also known as itching powder about a century ago) there's not that much meat left.
Another preserve can be made from fragrant red petals. When done with enough sugar, they hold their scent and color for over a year.
Some hip colors that I remember: Spinosissimas-black
Rugosas - deep orange red
Canina- orange yellow
Eglanteria- orange yellow

Thanks, Ann. I made some rose petal jam this spring with petals primarily from Crammy, but a few from Therese Bugnet as well

{{gwi:263669}}

and it turned out great. (Yummy on angel food cake!) So I thought I'd try some from rose hips, now that my gallicas' are starting to look orange. Sounds like they might not get much redder, then?

That jelly, is gorgeous!

Reilly, that is beautiful jam. I like the jars too :-)

Carol

Thanks, y'all. I had fun making it, though next year I won't use *quite* as many petals as the recipe called for, because it tastes knock-your-socks-off rosy. I'd like it a leetle more subtle. The recipe said you could add food coloring but I didn't--that's pure, true Crammy (and Therese)natural color.

I may just need more coffee, but, what is "Crammy." I don't think you mean Cramoisi Supieur. I've not heard of it before.

Robert

"Crammy Soup" is a nickname for Cramoisi Superieur, Robert. {{gwi:263671}}
I'd never noticed that Therese Bugnet's petals were heart-shaped until I made the jam.

What's the recipe for the rose petal jam? Knock-your-socks-off rosy sounds mighty good to me -
Anita

OK, Anita, this is the recipe from the book _Herbal Treasures_.

Kathleen's Rose-Petal Jam

1 quart fragrant rose petals (pesticide-free), tightly packed
3 cups water
1 package Sure-Jell
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups sugar
(optional: food coloring)

Heat the petals and water to boiling. Steep for 20 minutes, pushing petals into the liquid occasionally. Strain, and reserve petals. Measure liquid, and add water to make 3 cups. Mix liquid with Sure-Jell, lemon juice, and food coloring if desired.
In a large stainless-steel pot, bring the mixutre to a boil over high heat. Add the sugar, bring to a hard, rolling boil, and boil for exactly one minute. Immediately remove from heat, and stir in reserved rose petals. Stir for a few minutes to prevent the petals from floating. Pour into sterilized jars, and seal.

(I water processed mine for ten minutes beyond this.)

Do a taste test on the base of the petals of each cultivar.
Sometimes the white base can be bitter and is better off cut off.

Someday, we're going to know someone with a huge patch of Apothecary Rose and we'll get to test the jam made from them. My patch might make a Tblsp. of jam which really isn't enough.

Oh, good point Ann--yes, I did cut off the white bases of the petals. Someone had a good suggestion--pinch off the whole bloom very tightly, then use kitchen shears to snip off the white heels of the petals while the pinched bloom is still in your fingers. That's *much* quicker than having to snip each petal one...by...one!

-Reilly

Thanks! We'll try it! We don't have enough Apothecary rose for it to be worthwhile, either, but I should be able to come up with a quart of petals, between the cemetery and all of our volunteers.

Anybody have any rose hip recipes, while we're at it?
Anita