Putting up: Roses

Josh and I want to do as much canning and preserving as possible this year. The CSA we're part of provides most of our fresh eating veggies. So our main garden is dedicated to things that we can bottle, pickle, or keep in a (currently-non-existant) root cellar.

The first thing we started preserving this year didn't come from the garden, but from the rose bush that just happened to be on our rental property.

All roses are edible, but only those with a scent have any flavor. Luckily we have two bushes with a lovely mild smell in our backyard. We have never done this before, so I thought it would be best to try as many preservation methods as possible.

Dried Rose Petals

This is the easiest way to preserve rose petals. I just snipped blooms every day, pulled off the petals, and dried them in our dehydrador on a low setting.

We have a red rose bush, and a yellow one with bigger blooms but fewer flowers. I tested both varieties in a tea. The yellow bush had a finer flavor, so I decided to keep the petals seperate for now. Of course the red bush gave off a gallon of dried petals over a couple weeks, and the yellow bush has less than half that much. I think that it will be yummy in tea blends with lemon or mint.

Rose Water

Rose water is used in some middle eastern desserts as well as cosmetics. It's super expensive to buy, but extremely easy to make. Essentially you set up a distillery out of a kitchen stock pot, a brick, and a bowl. There's a good guide on it here. I mixed rose varieties here, and out of a weeks worth of rose petals I got a little over a pint of rose water. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, except maybe make some turkish delights or baklava. I have enough that I might try something more adventurous though.

Rose Jelly and Jam

Rose jelly is marvelous and beautiful. It has a really subtle flavor and was easy to make. I also got to waterbath can something for the first time in my life, so that was really exciting. My daughter loves this stuff, and her favorite treat is a piece of bread with butter and jelly on top. The other day she even asked for a second helping just so she could sneakily lick the jelly off.

I followed this recipe to make the Jelly. In retrospect I could have make rose water and rose jelly at the same time, and doubled my useful harvest from the same petals.

The jam on the other hand was frustrating, it took forever to reach the jelling point, and looks gross. I suspect that the fact that I'm so far above sea level was my undoing, since water boils at a lower temerapture here. I haven't tried it yet, but unless it's amazingly delicious I probably wont make it again.

Rose Oil

Lastly, I infused some canola oil with rose petals in order to make some oil. I used this method here, and I think that I'll infuse it a second time, because so far it seems a little mild. I plan on making rose balm out of this oil and organic beeswax when I have a little money to spare. I suppose that you could also make a floral vinegrette for some interesting summer salads.

So there you have it, that's how you preserve roses for use through out the year. Since I'm not planning on living here next year I did as much preservation as possible. Once I have a house and my own rose bush or two I'll probably settle in on a couple of rose products that my family loves to use.

I'm planning on buying this rose bush when we have our own house. In case anyone is curious.

Have you ever tried making these things? Which one is your favorite?