Making Rose Water

Since a good number of historic recipes call for rose water, I decided to make my own. Damask roses (more floral scented) out of your garden are preferred for this (potentially no fear of pesticides). In my opinion, pink roses are the best for this project. The rose color should not be too light. Otherwise, it makes it difficult, when it's simmering, to tell when the color has drained from the petals. However, if the rose color is too dark, it just does not look as appetizing when it's done (again, in my opinion), but it does make it quite easy to tell when the color has drained from the petals.

However, due to time and financial constraints, I chose to buy some after-Valentine's Day red roses on sale. If you follow this route, make sure to rinse your roses well to remove any potential pesticides before use. I found online that adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) degrades pesticides. Therefore, I soaked the roses in a baking soda and water mixture twice, both times followed by rinsing with more water. Please note that the darker the rose, the darker your rosewater will be.

In Tudor times, the water would have most likely been carried in from the local watering source (like a river) by wooden buckets. So, I used regular tap water for this project (my local watering source).  After thoroughly washing and rinsing the rose petals, I put them on the stove to simmer until the color was drained from the petals. Then, I removed the petals and allowed the rosewater to cool for about 30 minutes.

Once the rosewater has cooled, it can keep for about a week at room temperature. If the rosewater is needed for a later time, pour some of the liquid into an ice cube tray and freeze it for later use.

For an instructional video on how to do make rosewater, please click here to follow along with my video.