Discover Rosehips: A Journey to Chile with Bigelow Tea
At Bigelow Tea, our commitment to crafting the finest teas starts with sourcing the highest quality ingredients. Recently, the team from Bigelow had the privilege of visiting our esteemed rosehip long-standing partners in Chile, South America. This beautiful and educational trip deepened our understanding of growing and harvesting rosehips. We invite you to join us on our rosehip learning tour right here on our blog. Let's continue on together.
The Heart of Rosehip Harvesting: The Journey from Field to Cup
This small yet mighty fruit comes from a varietal of the rose plant and is celebrated for its tangy flavor and high vitamin C content, as highlighted by The Journal of Food and Drug Analysis. Rosehips grow in many parts of the world but those grown in Chile have a unique and delicious flavor. Chile’s wide range of different geography creates multiple growing regions each with their own soil and climate that create a distinct and delicious flavor that stands out from other parts of the world. Rosehips, unlike many herbs, are actually wild grown. The exact region they are grown in, the weather patterns, and the harvest timing all play an important role in their final taste profile.
Our dedicated family partners established their business in 1975 and have been dedicated to the vibrant, nutrient-rich fruit, rosehips. Each year, they harvest an impressive 20 million pounds of fresh rosehips, employing around 3,000 seasonal workers who meticulously hand-pick the fruit over an eight-week period from March to April. This community-driven effort is more than just a job; it's a generational tradition that supports families and uplifts local economies. Workers return annually to harvest, even those who have moved to cities for other work. Some have been part of this tradition for nearly 40 years, providing excellent opportunities for the older generation who may struggle to find employment elsewhere in Chile.
The processing of rosehips is truly a labor of love. After harvesting, the fruit undergoes rigorous cleaning, drying, and milling process. The drying process, crucial for preserving the integrity and flavor of the rosehips, is carefully controlled to prevent cooking the fruit while ensuring thorough dehydration. After processing, rosehips picked from various regions in Chile during various times in the harvest season are blended together to create the exact flavor standards set by the Bigelow family.
The Flavor Bridge: Rosehips in Bigelow Teas
Rosehips play a special role in each different Bigelow recipe and can serve as a bridge of flavor adding depth and complexity to each recipe. Discover for yourself how this key ingredient plays a pivotal role in harmonizing flavors, take a moment just for you to explore the following:
- Bigelow Tea Green Tea with Elderberry Plus Vitamin C: rosehip adds to the depth of the tea's fruity character
- Bigelow Tea Blackberry Citrus Plus Zinc Herbal Tea: rosehip helps meld together the sweet berry and tart citrus
- Bigelow Tea Ginger Peach Turmeric Herbal Tea: rosehip helps bring out the fruitiness of the peach offset by the earthy turmeric
- Bigelow I Love Lemon plus Vitamin C: the rosehip adds the perfect balance of tartness and depth to the delicious lemon
A Partnership Rooted in Quality and Values
To sum up the experience, the Bigelow Tea visit to Chile was more than an educational trip; it was a celebration of our long-standing and successful partnership and our mutual commitment to quality and sustainability. The dedication of the harvesters, the precision of the processing, and the passion of the farmers have all contributed to the exceptional quality of the rosehips which of course affects every cup of Bigelow tea you enjoy that includes this key ingredient.