Rose Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Gather roses when they are dry and fully bloomed.
Pick off the leaves and place them in a cold still.
Add 1 quart of water for every peck of leaves.
Distill and bottle
Make a slow fire under the still; the slower it distills, the better it will be.
Bottle the distilled water and cork it tightly after 2 or 3 days for use.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Rose leaves
- Provide the fragrant oils and aroma that give the distilled water its flavour.
- Water
- Carries the volatile rose aromas over during distillation, forming the finished rose water.
The step that matters
Keep the fire slow during distillation. Slow heating lets the volatile aromatic compounds vaporise gently and condense without scorching the leaves, giving a cleaner, more delicate scent. Rushing the heat can produce a harsher, less pleasant flavour.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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