As the hot summer weather turns into cool autumn days, the rose bushes (rosa canina) that grow wild in the forests of the Caucasus Mountains will stop putting their energy into flowers and start putting energy into growing beautiful red rosehip berries.

Rosehips are the seed pods of the rose plant, and for centuries they have been recognized for medicinal uses and for holistic medicine to treat ailments such as upset stomachs, muscle pains, colds and flu and many other maladies.

Rosehips are loaded with Vitamin C, and some varieties have 25 times more Vitamin C by weight compared with citrus fruits. They also have B Complex Vitamins, bioflavonoids (Vitamin P), Vitamin A, Iron and many other essential minerals and nutrients.

Soon NADI will send internally displaced persons (IDPs) into the forests of the Caucasus Mountains to handpick this year’s crop of rosehip berries under a special arrangement with the Georgian government, which owns the land.

Workers will turn the berries into more bottles of all-natural NADI rosehip drink, while also earning money to support their families and rebuild their lives. We called our socially responsible venture NADI because it means “collective work effort” in Georgian.

The rose bushes that grow NADI’s rosehips are never treated with herbicides, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or other chemicals the way large-scale farm produce is often grown. Besides the rosehips, there are only two other ingredients in NADI: purified water and a bit of organic stevia plant-based sweetener.

We make NADI the same way our mothers and grandmothers did, with minimal processing and organic ingredients so it tastes clean and natural.

You can enjoy the taste of tradition with NADI, which is available here.

—Nina & Gaga