Simple Uses for Roses

 

When you have a large crop of roses from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include them in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use them up before they go bad without getting sick of them.  You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.

Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple!  Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve roses:

• Make rose petal tea, alone or with lavender and chamomile.  Rose petals can also complement Camellia sinensis teas, especially green tea.  Rose petal tea is prepared as an infusion.

• Make rosehip tea, alone or in a nutritive, antihistamine, vitamin-C-rich blend with nettle.  Rosehip tea is prepared as a decoction or a long infusion.  Long infusion is the best method for the nettle blend just mentioned.

• Make rosehip jelly or jam.

• Use the petals as Decor for an Interesting Salad.  (Wondering why I capitalized those letters?  Read more about Interesting Salads here!)

• Use rosehips as Walls in an Interesting Salad.

• Make rose petal honey.  An herbal honey is a delicious way to preserve the herbal properties of your rose petals, extend their shelf life, and get benefits of honey too.

• Make rosehip syrup.  Check out our How to Make an Herbal Syrup article for more information.

• Add rosehips to broth.

• Make a tincture with the petals or flowerheads.  An herb:solvent ratio of 1:2 at 50% alcohol is suggested for a rose petal/flower tincture.

• Make a bath-tea blend with rose petals and lavender.

• Make rose-infused oils and lotions with the petals.

• Make rosewater.

• Dry or dehydrate the hips and the petals or flowerheads for later use.  See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.

• Freeze rosehips to save them for later.

See the ingestibility section of the gardening facts article for information about safety, processing rosehips, and rose selection considerations.

Further Reading

Growing roses?  Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.

Roses are also featured in these articles:

• Quick Facts: Growing Roses
• The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad
• How to Preserve Your Harvest: Herbal Preparations

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