from the garden

Don't the roses in my garden look lovely?



It's purely by chance - I have the ungreenest of thumbs, but these appear to have thrived on a diet of neglect.

I have recently been reading Josceline Dimbleby's memoir Orchards in the Oasis, which talks of her time in Damascus as a child and the wonderful scents of orange blossom and rosewater in the sweets.

Its a wonderful book.

I felt inspired to try making my own rosewater for use in my cooking. Since there were so many roses climbing up the side of the house I thought they wouldn't come to any harm if I pinched a few of the petals. Rosewater can only be made with petals that haven't been sprayed with anything nasty (like pesticides), and I know my own haven't (that would be a result of the neglect).

So here's what I did:

Step 1 - Pick half a pint of rose petals


Step 2 - put in a saucepan (ceramic not metal) with 1 teaspoon of honey


Step 3 - Pour a pint of boiling water over the petals

Step 4 - Simmer until the colour of the petals bleaches out into the water (10-15 minutes)


Step 5 - Cover and leave to infuse overnight

Step 6 - Strain the liquid into a sterilised jar and refridgerate.

I'm hoping that this will keep for a couple of weeks, but I plan to try using it soon as I'm VERY curious about what it will be like. I confess I have no frame of reference as I don't think I've tasted rosewater before. I shall be blissfully ignorant if mine doesn't taste right!