Rose Recipes

With Valentine's day right around the corner I thought it would be great to tell you about some wonderful recipes. After all there is no better way to our lovers heart than through the stomach! ENJOY!

Rose Water
Rose Petals
Distilled Water
Enamel Pot (any size)
Directions
1. Fill the bottom of an enamel pot with the rose petals a few inches deep. Pour distilled water over the petals until they are just covered.
2. Turn on heat for the water to be steaming hot, but do not boil. Let the water steam until the petals have lost their color, the water has taken on the color of the rose petals and you see rose oil skimming the surface. This will take approximately 60 minutes.3. Strain the water and squeeze out the liquid from the rose petals, this is your rosewater.

Rose Petal Ice Tea
Makes 4 -6 servings
Ingredients
3 large roses (petals only, white bases removed)
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups water
2 teaspoons rose water
1 drop pink food coloring (just a TINY DROP)
3 green tea bags
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Directions
1. Bring the 3 cups water to a boil. Add the rose petals and lemon juice then turn off the heat and allow it to sit for 8-10 hours.
2. Strain the 'rose water' into large jug. Remove petals & discard.
3. Bring the 2 cups of water to a boil, remove from heat and place in the tea bags. Brew for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags, and add the granulated sugar to the tea. Stir.
4. Allow the tea to cool then add the 2 tsp rose water, the food coloring and stir.

Rose Petal Sugar
1. Cup White Sugar
2. Cups fresh, fragrant Rose Petals, shredded or minced
Directions
1. Pound sugar and rose petals with a mortar and pestle.
2. Place in a covered jar for one week.
3. Sift out petal bits if desired and store in an airtight container.

Rose Petal Butter
1 Cup fresh Rose Petals, chopped
3/4 Cup softened unsalted Butter
Directions
1. Mix, let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
2. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours to let the rose flavor meld into the butter.
3. Keep refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen for several months.

Rose Petal Jelly
1 cup edible rose petals
1 1/2 cups water
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 package Sure-Jell pectin
Directions
1. Combine the rose petals, 3/4 cup water and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. 2. Slowly add the sugar and blend well.
3. Bring the remaining 3/4 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the pectin and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Pour the hot mixture into the blender with the other ingredients and blend 1 minute. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

Rose Petal Infused Champagne Vinegar
Makes 4 cups
4 cup champagne vinegar
3 cup dried rose petals
1/2 cup dried rose petals
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
2. Combine vinegar and 3 cups petals in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover pan and put in oven for 2 hours. Remove from oven and cool.
3. Strain vinegar into a bottle.Add the 1/2 cup rose petals.
4. Cap bottle and refrigerate. Use within 5 days.

Rose Petal Ice Cubes
These are so pretty when floating in a punch bowl or pitcher of iced tea or lemonade.
Directions
1. Collect pesticide-free rose petals. Rinse under warm water and blot dry.
2. Fill ice cube tray half full with water and freeze. Place a rose petal on each cube, cover with a teaspoon of water and freeze again.
3. Fill cubes completely with water and freeze. Remove from trays.

Couscous with rose petals
Makes 4 Servings
Vegetable stock
1 tbsp dried mint
1 can of chickpeas, drained and heated as per the tin
½ cucumber (3-4 inches) halved, deseeded and diced
4 medium tomatoes, deseeded and diced
6 dried apricots, diced
Rose petals, to taste
Rose bulbs, to decorate (optional)
Directions
1.Cook the couscous as per the instructions of the packaging, replacing water with the vegetable stock and adding the dried mint.
2.Once the couscous is cooked, fluff it up with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir it all up well.
3.Serve in individual bowls or on a large communal plate. If you want to, decorate with some rose bulbs.

Rose Petal Sandwiches
1 half sized baguette
large leaf of curly romaine
10 rose petals (well washed)
goat cheese
walnuts or pine nuts
red onion slices
roseberry dressing (1/2 cup raspberry yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon rose water)
Directions
1. Cut baguette in half and toast lightly.
2. Rinse romaine and rose petals well and pat dry.
3. Place one romaine leaf on 1/2 toasted baguette. Layer rose petals, goat cheese and walnuts. 4.Top with roseberry dressing.
5. Place the second romaine leaf on the other flute, add onion slices, serve open faced.

Chocolate Rose-Petal Soup
Makes 2 servings
4 oz "dark" milk chocolate
4 oz dark chocolate
1 cup light cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 organic, pesticide-free, edible roses or the equivalent amount in rose-petals
1/2 cup fresh strawberries
4-6 fresh mint leaves
Directions
1. Chop up chocolate into small slivers, set aside.
2. In a pan, stirring occasionally, bring light cream to a simmer. Remove pan from burner and add chocolate. Let the chocolate sit about 5 minutes while the hot cream dissolves it. After 5 minutes, stir in what hasn't dissolved.
3. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Stir. Taste. Remember it should be smooth and a little on the thicker side. If the chocolate soup is too rich or too thick for your taste, feel free to add a little more cream or water until it reaches the taste/consistency you prefer.
4. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the soup preferably into small, flat bowls.
5. Remove rose petals from stems. Arrange the individual petals into the shape of a flower on top of the chocolate soup. Do 1-2 overlapping layers to give dimension.
6. Slice strawberries into small wedges. Top the center of the rose petals with a cluster of strawberries. Garnish with a sprinkling of mint leaves. Feel free accent with hazelnuts or pound cake croutons if you have them. Serve!

Rose Petal Pound Cake.
1 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cups white sugar
5 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 ounces finely chopped almonds
1 teaspoon rosewater
2 drops red food coloring
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 inch tube pan.
2. Cream butter well. In a separate bowl beat sugar and eggs together until doubled in volume. Add sifted flour and salt gradually. Fold in creamed butter thoroughly.
3. Divide batter into two equal parts. Into one part add the almond extract and the ground almonds. To the other part add the rosewater and the red food coloring. Spoon batters alternately into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 to 60 minutes. Let cake cool then remove from pan and dust with confectioner's sugar. Garnish by placing rose petals around base of cake. Serve with Rose Petal Syrup.

Rose Petal Syrup
4 cups rose petals
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
red food coloring (optional)
Directions
1. Simmer rose petals with water and sugar for one hour.
2. Add drops of red food coloring to get desired color.
3. Strain through a fine sieve.
4. Bring back to the boil and put in hot sterilized bottles.

Rose Petal Ice Cream
Makes approx. 3 cups
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
5 large egg yolks
1 ½ cups loosely packed, very fragrant old rose petals, washed and spun dry
Directions
1. Prepare an ice bath by placing ice cubes in a large, flat-bottomed container that will hold the bowl where the ice cream will be chilled.
2. Place the sugar and the rose petals in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and make paste.
3. Place the heavy cream, milk and sugar paste in a medium sized saucepan and place on medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer and turn off heat.
4. Place the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Whisk yolks until light; add the hot liquid slowly, while whisking until the mixture is homogenized. Return liquid to saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it reaches a temperature of 180 degrees F. on a candy thermometer or it coats the back of the spoon. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean container and place in the ice bath. Once completely chilled, freeze in ice cream machine, following the manufacturer instructions

ELDERBERRY

Folklore:

The Elder Tree was supposed to ward off evil influence and give protection from witches, a popular belief held in some cultures. If an elder tree was cut down, a spirit known as the Elder Mother would be released and take her revenge. The tree could only safely be cut while chanting a rhyme to the Elder Mother.

General Information

Latin Name:
Sambucus nigra
Common Names:
Elderberry, Black Elderberry, North American Elderberry
Properties:
antioxidant, diaphoretic, diuretic, laxative, immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory
Uses:
Immune system boost, coughs, colds, flu, bacterial infections, viral infections, tonsillitis, lower cholesterol, improved vision and heart health.
Indicated for:
Cancer, HIV, asthma and bronchitis, reduce inflammation of the urinary tract and bladder.

Parts used: White flowers of the elderberry bush have been used in many things; pressed into tonics, brewed into wines and champagne, lightly battered and fried into fritters, or stirred into muffin or sponge cake mix for a light, sweet flavor.

Ripe berries cleaned and cooked, can be made into many things: extracts, syrups, pies, jams, or used as garnish, dye or flavoring. The leaves, twigs, stems, roots and unripe berries of all elderberry plants are not edible, and contain toxins that can make a person quite sick. Ripe berries and flowers only!

Harvest: elderberry fruit: in late August through early September, depending on the cultivar. When ripe, the entire cluster should be -removed and the berries stripped from the cluster for use. Uncooked berries have a dark purple juice and are astringent and inedible. Use the fruit as soon as possible or keep it at a cool temperature for later use. It is difficult to transport elderberries because the fruits fall off the cluster during transit.

elderberry flower:Elderberries bloom from mid-to-late June through August. The individual white flowers are about 1/4" in width and they are quite fragrant. The flowers grow in large round, almost umbrella-like clusters, which are from 4 to 10 inches across.

My thoughts

Elderberries are popular for their unusual taste in pies, jellies, and jams. They are occasionally used in wine making. The plants are very hardy (usually to Zone 4 but some kinds to Zone 3), and because they flower in late June, the crop is seldom damaged by late spring frost.

They are attractive and easy to grow, and are great in landscape plantings. Elderberries contain more phosphorus and potassium than any other temperate fruit crop. The fruit is also rich in vitamin C.

Used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, improve vision, boost the immune system, improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis. Elderberry juice was used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1995. This event led to a study that showed that the elderberry extract reduced both the severity of flu symptoms and also the duration of flu from 2-3 days in the treated group versus 6 days in the placebo group. This is because elderberry inhibits neuraminidase, the enzyme used by the virus to spread infection to host cells. That's very impressive,

Elderberry works PRIMARILY in a very similar fashion to Tamiflu (both suppress/prevent viral replication, although by different mechanisms), I believe it's as effective as anything we have available. Elderberry stimulates the NON-inflammatory cytokines, so even if you took it after you'd developed a high viral load (not something I suggest- this is one of the main reasons it's important to take it EARLY and OFTEN... as soon as you suspect you might be developing influenza) it's unlikely to *cause* a cytokine storm.

You can use dried Elderberries in place of fresh during the winter months . When would use half as much when substituting them for fresh in a recipe.Below is Rosemary Gladstar's recipe with a few tweaks from me.

Elderberry Syrup:

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries

1 3inch piece of fresh ginger

2 limes

1tsp cinnamom

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

3 cups of water

1 cup honey

Method:

1. Put the berries,ginger,limes(juice and then place the juice and peel in the pot), cinnamon,cloves. in a medium sized nonreactive sauce pan and cover them with the water. Bring the water and berries to a boil and then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.

2. Smash the berries and then strain them out. (I use butter muslin over a strainer and then squeeze the muslin to get all the juices I can out of the berries.)

3. Add the honey and stir well.

4. When the syrup has cooled put it into bottles (or jars- but bottles will make for easier pouring), label, and store in the refrigerator. The syrup will keep for 2 to 3 months.

You can freeze any extra elderberries to make additional batches of the syrup as you need it.