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Autumn not only brings colorful leaves and cooler temperatures, but also an abundance of wild berries waiting to be gathered. Sloes, sea buckthorn, hawthorn, and rose hips are four of the many natural treasures that play a significant role in both the kitchen and natural medicine. In this article, you'll learn all about their properties, healing benefits, and how to process them.
Rose Hip (Rosa canina) – The Red Vitamin Bomb
In autumn, rose hip bushes glow with vibrant red and are a true eye-catcher in the otherwise gray landscape. However, the fruits of the wild rose are not only beautiful to look at, but also rich in vitamins and minerals that will keep you healthy during the cold season.
Healing Effects and Nutrients
Fresh rose hips are packed with valuable nutrients: around 2% vitamin C, as well as oils, fruit acids, sugars, tannins, and pectin. The seeds are also rich, containing vitamin E, fatty acids, oleic acids, linolenic acids, and up to 33% alpha-linolenic acid.
Thanks to its high vitamin C content and slightly tart flavor, rose hips are a popular ingredient in many tea blends. They also have a mild diuretic effect, which is why they are often used in flushing teas.
Regular intake of rose hip powder (including the shells and seeds) can help lower LDL cholesterol levels, ease osteoarthritis pain, and improve joint discomfort.
Harvesting Tip
Rose hips picked before frost contain a lot of vitamin C and are ideal for teas or as dietary supplements. When harvesting, ensure the fruits are fully colored (a deep red) and still firm. After frost, they become softer and kinda mushy (losing some vitamin C, but becoming sweeter in flavor), perfect for making jams and jellies. You can either cook them or use them raw – depending on your preference.
I collect the firm fruits, halve them, and dry them near the heater (including the seeds and hairs). For jams, simply cook the whole fruits, press them through a sieve, and remove the seeds.
Kitchen Tip
Create a delicious rose hip powder for muesli or yogurt, an immune-boosting rose hip oxymel, a sweet rose hip jam, or a healthy snack like rose hip fruit leather. Your imagination and culinary creativity are the only limits here :)
Sloe (Prunus spinosa) – The Autumn Vitamin C Boost
The sloe is a type of wild plum, with blue, frosted fruits harvested after the first frosts. These thorny shrubs were often used as natural fences in earlier times. In addition to their practical use, the fruits offer a variety of healing components.
Healing Effects and Nutrients
Sloes are rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and tannins. These ingredients help strengthen the immune system and have anti-inflammatory effects, especially for gum inflammation and throat issues. In folk medicine, sloe fruits are often used as a strengthening remedy before winter, in the form of purée, liqueur, or wine.
Kitchen Tip
After the first frost, the astringent taste of sloes becomes milder. You can snack on the fruits directly from the bush or use them for jams and liqueurs. If you don't want to wait for frost, a trick is to place the sloes in the freezer overnight!
Recipe: Fruity-Sweet Sloe Juice
What you need:
Sloes
water, and
some sugar
How to do it:
Wash the sloes, put them in a large pot, and cover them with boiling water. Cover and let sit overnight.
The next day, strain the sloes, briefly boil the liquid, and pour it back over the sloes.
Repeat this process six times, then press the sloes.
Add 70g sugar per liter of liquid, boil, let cool, and fill into hot bottles.
Tastes delightfully like cherries!
Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) – The Local Superfood
With its bright orange berries, sea buckthorn is a true powerhouse for health. It grows on thorny shrubs and is prized for its extraordinarily high concentration of vitamin C – even more than lemons!
Healing Effects and Nutrients
Sea buckthorn is considered a local superfood and is classified as a wild fruit. Its effects are strengthening, cleansing, and clarifying. Thanks to its high carotene content, which has cell-protecting, cell-regenerating, and antioxidant properties, sea buckthorn is ideal for daily skincare.
It improves the skin’s appearance by caring for dry, inflamed, and cracked skin. It also works wonders as after-sun care or for sun-damaged skin.
With its skin-nourishing and immune-boosting ingredients, sea buckthorn oil is a valuable protective and care oil for any home pharmacy. The bright orange berries are also a must in the kitchen – their juice strengthens the immune system and can be used in various ways, from syrup and lemonade to jelly or jam.
It’s now known that this amazing plant contains much more vitamin C than the same amount of lemons. Additionally, the small berries are full of vitamin B12, beta-carotene, and tannins that are beneficial to the body in many ways.
Kitchen Tip
Sea buckthorn can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen – from juice and syrup to jellies and jams. A sea buckthorn smoothie is a great way to boost your immune system in the fall.
The possibilities for processing sea buckthorn are endless: oxymel, straight from the bush, in a smoothie, mixed with other berries, in yogurt, as a dessert, or simply enjoyed fresh. Let your creativity run wild!
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) – Nature’s Heart Remedy
Hawthorn berries are a true heart remedy. The flowers, leaves, and fruits of the hawthorn have been known in natural medicine for centuries for their heart-strengthening properties. Whether as tea or tincture, hawthorn is an indispensable companion for a healthy cardiovascular system.
Healing Effects and Nutrients
Hawthorn berries, like the flowers and leaves, have numerous health benefits.
They are:
Heart-strengthening
Blood pressure-lowering
Nerve-soothing
Circulation-supporting
Blood flow-enhancing
Few medicinal plants work as directly on the heart as hawthorn. As a true all-rounder, it supports the heart in all phases of life*:
Regulates blood pressure,
Strengthens heart power,
Increases heart endurance,
And helps reduce the release of stress hormones.
Kitchen Tip
You can eat hawthorn berries straight from the bush or process them into a heart-strengthening liqueur. A small shot of hawthorn liqueur is not only soothing but also a delicious treat. You collect the berries in the fall, the flowers and leaves in the spring.
Wild berry power at it´s best
In autumn, nature gifts us a bounty of wild berries that are not only delicious but also offer numerous health benefits. Whether it’s sloes, sea buckthorn, hawthorn, or rose hips – each of these fruits has its unique properties. Take advantage of the season to discover the power of wild berries in your kitchen and for your health!
Tell me your favorite wild fruit in autumn and how you like to prepare it!
*Source: Ursel-Bühring; Practical Textbook of Medicinal Plant Studies
LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
My herbal blogs are based on my education as a certified herbal educator, thorough training, and personal experience. They are in no way intended to encourage self-treatment, the discontinuation of medical treatments or medications, or to replace professional medical care. My statements regarding the effects of individual ingredients, herbs, and raw materials, as well as the provided recipes and application tips, are for informational purposes only. I do not make any claims or promises regarding the alleviation or treatment of health problems or diseases, nor do I guarantee such results. Anyone who is allergic to an ingredient should, of course, avoid using that plant/herb! Always seek additional information or consult your doctor during pregnancy, breastfeeding, in cases of serious illness, or when using products for children. Anyone who chooses to follow my recipes or recommendations does so at their own risk.
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