One day when I was a little girl, playing dress-up in grandma’s room, I came across a little glass bottle labeled “Rosewater”. My grandma had lots of interesting things.. jewellery of all shapes and colours, hats for all occasions, and a drawer full of furry things I’d rather not think about. Nothing was as pretty and delicate as this little bottle of rosewater.. and it smelled like grandma.
It sounded like such a big job taking the water from the roses and putting it into the jar. I often thought about how difficult it would be first fighting the thorns, then pressing the flowers…. How do you pick them without getting stuck? how many flowers would it take to fill that tiny jar? Recently, I decided to Google it. Turns out its pretty simple…
First pick as many petals as you cam stand.. the thorns aren’t really a problem it you wear a glove on one hand to pull out the branch, and your other hand to close all the petals together and pull (if you pick after they have been pollinated the come off pretty easy)
Next find a large pot w/ lid, half a brick, a smaller glass bowl, ice cubes and some water.
Place the brick in the pot. Fill the bottom with water and rose petals up to the top of the brick but not over it. Place the bowl on the brick.
Put the cover on upside down. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Throw the ice cubes onto the lid.
Voila! You just made your own still.
After its boiled a while, pour contents of the bowl into a jar. This is Rosewater.
Make paper with the leftover petals, and use up the remaining water in in your next bath, or rinse your hair with it. The rosewater doesn’t keep long, but there are many uses for it, from cosmetic to culinary, so store it in the fridge until your ready to use it.
I also dried some rose petals in my dehydrator, and made some yummy Rose Petal Jelly .