Traditionally, aluminum foil is used to help protect the hips from being eaten by rodents and birds. I don't know about the conditions where you are, but it is still sufficiently hot and sunny here to cook them under foil. You might be able to "age" the hip flesh as you help to "ripen" fruit, but that's no guaranty you're maturing the seeds inside. Kim

No cooking here :)
We are down to -1C and slightly above at night. Around 30F.
Hmmmmm
Maybe I'll take some off and leave some on. The ones that I take the tin foil off, I can see if they ripen on the bush in my garage.
Thanks Kim
Carol

You're welcome, Carol. Good luck! Kim

I took all of the aluminum foil off the hips, since they were dampish underneath. I think that the roses that I had left uncovered ripened a bit more than the covered ones. :)

Yes, the foil can cause some to rot if the conditions are very damp. Done that, lol! As Kim said, I use the foil to keep the squirrels from stealing them and then burying them in my rose pots. Stupid squirrels!

Do you know how many days they have been on? If it's at least 90 days you should be good. Leave them as long as you can on the bushes. If they have started to color at all they should still be ripe enough to use.

The end of October it might be around 95 days.
On the plus side, we're supposed to at least have 2 more weeks of above zero temps at night. So go rose hips go!!
Yes, most of them have started to color a bit. I know that Rock & Roll should be ripe - they're all (5 hips I left on) at least half a nice cherry red. Could be interesting roselings as they are next to Just Joey. Exciting!!
Carol