How to Savour Roses All Year Long

by Karen Dunn & Jennifer Banks-Doll

Quadra Island caught rose fever this week with a visit to the Garden Club by rosarian Jason Croutch from the Fraser Valley Rose Farm. Many gardeners went home with a new rose plant…or three! We are really looking forward to seeing and smelling all those lovely blossoms over the years to come, and sharing our unique “can’t buy at a regular nursery” varieties with each other using the propagation methods Jason taught us.

Can You Eat Roses?

Roses have a heavenly scent, but are they good to eat?

Roses are delicious…and medicinal. Rose is uplifting. Good for heartbreak, trauma and grief. It helps keep your heart open without becoming vulnerable. Roses are beneficial to the nervous system. They are cool and nourishing, astringent and toning. They are high in vitamin C.

Rose petals are best picked first thing in the morning before the sun and wind dry them out. About to bloom rose buds and newly opened roses are best.

How To Dry Rose Petals & Rose Hips

You can dry your petals or hips on a screen like this one, built to dry clothes.  If you don’t have a screen you can make one by draping mesh or thin fabric over an old picture frame and securing with staples.  Or drying them on a tray works pretty well too.

Recipes

In celebration of roses, we decided to share a few recipes using roses so you can savour them all year long.

If you dried some petals or rose hips last year you can make these right away. If not, make sure you pick some this year. Only use highly fragrant roses that have not been treated with pesticides.

Enjoy!

Rose Petal Honey

A decadent treat in your favorite herbal tea or have a little spoonful straight up.

Ingredients:

• Honey
• Fresh Rose Petals

Directions:

• Fill a pint or quart jar about 2/3 full of organic unpasteurized mild tasting honey.
• Gently heat a bit to make the honey more liquid.
• Keeping the jar warm in a wrapped towel take it out to the rose patch.
• Pick the rose head (the entire flower) and gently shake off any insects that might be present.
• Put the flower right into your warm honey.
• Keep picking until the jar is full. This takes more than you might think.
• Alternatively collect the petals in a basket or box and bring home, then carefully fill your honey jar with petals.  Note that the quicker you get the petals into the honey the more fragrant your honey will be.
• When the jar is full of petals, place a piece of cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar and secure in place with an elastic.
• If you have a crock pot set the jar in the pot. Add water to come about half way up the jar. Put the temperature on the Keep Warm setting. Let it sit for 24 hours (keep crockpot uncovered). Keep an eye of the water level to make sure it doesn’t dry out.
• If you don’t have a crock pot you can let the petals infuse for a week or two in the honey on the counter or in the sun. But be sure to keep an eye on it as there is a possibility of mold with this method.
• With both methods you can top up with more petals while they are infusing.
• At the end of 24 hours in the crock pot or 1-2 weeks on the counter strain the honey mixture thru a strainer or cheesecloth while it is still warm. You will want to squeeze every last drop out.
• Eat the petals if you like or add to tea or other culinary delights (they will keep in a covered glass jar for awhile, unrefrigerated).
• Seal your jar of rose honey and store in a cool place. Or repeat the procedure with more rose petals for an even more fragrant flavor.

Rose Shrub

Shrubs are a syrup made with apple cider vinegar, a sweetener, and a fruit or flower. They are delicious mixed with fizzy or regular water, mixed into a cocktail, or made into salad dressing. Hurricane Rena sells all different flavours of shrubs at farmer’s markets on Quadra Island.  Here is a recipe to try making shrubs at home, with roses!

Source: https://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/Rose-Petal-Shrub-Recipe.html

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups dried rose petals (can also use fresh)
• 1/3 cup dried de-seeded or whole rose hips
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 vanilla beans, sliced in half or other spice (optional)
• 1.25 litres apple cider vinegar

Directions:

• Fill a 1.5 litre jar 3/4 of the way with the dried or fresh rose petals.
• Add the rose hips, honey and vanilla beans.
• Fill the jar with the apple cider vinegar.
• Cap tightly with a non-reactive lid (glass or plastic, avoid metal as the vinegar will corrode it).
• Shake daily. Let macerate for 2-4 weeks. Taste frequently and then strain when the herbs have infused to your liking.
• Use within a year.

Rose Syrup

Make this delicious syrup any time of year with fresh or dried rose petals. Use it to flavour fizzy drinks or cocktails, such as gin and tonics.

Source: https://www.cookswithcocktails.com/how-to-make-simple-rose-syrup/

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/2 cup dried rose blossoms

Directions:

• Add the sugar, water and rose blossoms to a small pot.
• Heat over medium heat until the mixture starts to simmer. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 10 mins until the mixture starts to thicken and it can coat the back of a spoon.
• Take off the heat and let the mixture sit for a while and cool down on its own.
• When it’s cool, strain the simple syrup and discard the rose blossoms.
• Store the rose simple syrup in a container in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Rose Hip Syrup

This is a good winter tonic and high in vitamin C. Can also be combined with Elderberry syrup.

Ingredients:

• 600 grams whole rose hips (take blossom end off, leave seeds in)
• ½ litre water
• 2 cups sugar (honey can be used but sugar syrup keeps longer)

Directions:

• Bring rose hips to boil in half litre water.
• Turn heat off and let sit overnight.
• The next day put hips into jelly bag and squeeze juice out.
• Add hot water to bring level up to 2 cups.
• Bring back to boil.
• Add 2 cups sugar and stir until it dissolves.
• Remove from heat.
• Pour into clean sterilized jars and store in fridge once it has cooled.

All photos credit Karen Dunn.