sugar pears and crab apples (top), rose hips (right) and cranberry beans (below)

Rose hips have a higher concentration of Vitamin C than just about any other plant. They are also a font of unusual food-related trivia. Did you know, for example, that rose hips are one of the healthiest treats for your pet guinea pig or chinchilla? They provide the Vitamin C those critters need without unneeded sugar. Did you know that during World War II, the people of Britain were mobilized to gather wild rose hips and use them to make a Vitamin C syrup for children? Not enough ships carrying citrus fruit from the tropics were getting past German submarines to supply demand on the British Isles .

Rose hips are the seed pods left behind on rose bushes when the flowers have died and all the petals have fallen away. Roses are from the same botanical family as apples, and both the petals and hips are edible. Most varieties of roses produce rose hips, but hips from the Rugusa Rose are said to be best for eating.