I have a recipe for a Belgian style ale with rose hips but can’t find them any where. Would rose pedals give me the same taste.
Petals would probably give a similar character. Try using the same weight as hips.
Personally I don’t like the taste of roses in my food or drink, but people have been doing it for thousands of years so I guess it’s worth a shot if you think you’ll like it.
Rose hips and rose petals give a very different flavor. Petals are (as you would suspect) very floral. Rose hips are more citrus. There is a similar underlying flavor, but unless you know what you are tasting you might not know they are from the same plant.
Dried rose hips are easily available at natural food stores or specialty tea shops. They are often used in herbal teas.
Correct, they are also high in vitamin C. You can harvest them off an untreated bush. They’re generally bright orange and fat.
Petals might give a subtle flavor. I believe, in the Middle East, they use rose water as a seasoning.
+1 to rose hips and pedals being very different. The petals have an unpleasant, tannic quality. I’ve tried to figure out how to get petals to work for years, but their threshold between unnoticeable and gawdawful is a razor thin line.
Here’s an interesting article on rose hips:
