I haven't always loved roses... I considered them cliche. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the subtleties of how the petals arrange themselves and change color as they bloom. I noticed the different colors and gloss varieties of each breed's leaves. Every rose has a different aroma~ some not at all. So, when I moved to this house, I planted 6 rosebushes. Why? Because I thought they were beautiful. Since planting, my roses have been very blessed with abundances of blooms. They grow larger every year and the blooms become more plentiful. This picture is 5 of my bushes (the 6th is a little off to the left out of frame.) The two end roses are red and cream colored and have a tea rose fragrance. The two inner ones are cream colored with very intricate pin-wheel style petal patterns. The one with the most roses on it in the picture is the fragrant one, the other one has no fragrance. The center bush is the smallest with very fragrant buds. They are purplish-pink. The one out of frame is actually a purple-blue and are the MOST fragrant. This year, I decided that instead of wasting these beauties by just trimming them off, I am going to pluck the scented petals and use them. Why not? Oops, just noticed my finger in the frame. Oh well, you can see that I've got all my nicely scented petals in the pot with some water (you can't see the water lol). This is my canning pot, with a pyrex dish in the center. I'm going to distill these petals to capture rosewater. You can't tell in the photo, but the petals fill this container about 10 inches! I had to scrunch them down to be able to place the dish in the center. Now this is old school. I put the lid on upside-down so that as the water boils, it will drip into the center dish. The ice on top will no doubt need to be changed, but this is what I have to work with. The pot is cooking as I type this. I'm going to boil the water and condense it into the pyrex bowl so that I can have some rosewater to use in future lotions. It smells so good, and I won't have to use any synthetic fragrance to scent it. How does that sound?
2 Comments
Terry Friedman
5/28/2013 09:16:51 pm
Hi Liz - Great idea. How much did you make from all of those petals? I also have pinched off the petals and let them dry on their own in a dish, ground them later and put them in soap for a bit of texture and color. But, LOVE the rosewater idea.
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5/29/2013 01:09:44 am
Hey Terry! I actually got about 2 cups of rosewater from that batch, but I think next time I do it, I won't add as much water initially, and hopefully that will make it stronger. My thought was to use it for lotions, hoping that the natural fragrance would come through. I might have to try drying some myself and adding them to soap! Most of my roses are very light colored though.
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AuthorMy name is Liz Holding and I have been making soaps since 2002. Archives
October 2013
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