This is Kawashima from Coesam.
Rose hips are said to be a vitamin C bomb.
Coesam's fields are located in Chile, the world's largest producer of rose hips.
I visited the Coesam fields during the harvest season in March and April, so I would like to share what it was like!
About the organic rosehip farm in Coesam
Coesam's organic rosehip fields are located in the Patagonia region of southern Chile.
It looks like this on the map.
Northern Chile is a dry, desert region, but the area where Coesam's fields are located is rainy and lush greenery.
The harvest season is from summer to autumn, but the heat during the day can exceed 30 degrees, making the sun scorching hot.
However, in the evenings and mornings it gets so cold that you'll be cold without long sleeves.
This temperature difference is very important for producing delicious rose hips.
Chile accounts for approximately 60% of the world's rose hip production.
Coesam accounts for a large proportion of this.
Coesam was the first company in the world to start organically cultivating rose hips, and through research and development with the Chilean government and local universities, it is now able to cultivate a large amount of nutritious, delicious rose hips (AP-4).
Time to harvest!
Quick harvest experience!
Thinking that, I entered the field...
So...it's big...
It seems to stretch to the horizon.
As far as the eye can see, all you can see are rose hips.
I was at a loss as to how to harvest this vast space.
It's so hot. It's chilly in the shade, but in the sun it's so hot that it hurts my skin and I can't stand it!!
From a distance, you might wonder where the red rose hips are, but when you get closer, you can see that they are full of red berries. So cute.
Rosehip
The harvest is done mechanically.
Only large, fully developed fruits are harvested.
At this point, the stems and leaves will also come off, but that's no problem as you will separate them later!
We were able to harvest a lot of rose hips that day!
Before this machine was introduced, everything was done by hand.
I also had the opportunity to try out harvesting by hand, which was much harder than I had imagined.
Since only a few rose hips can be removed in one go, this can take a huge amount of time, but the most difficult part is getting thorns from the roses pricking your clothes and arms every time.
The thorns are so sharp that after just 2 minutes of exposure, my clothes were torn apart and my arms were covered in scratches.
If we still harvested it by hand, it would cost several times more than it does now.
To be continued.