Cooking with roses

Which roses should I choose for edible rose petals?

Mainly petals are used in cooking, even if hips can also be made into jelly or jam. And there is an essential precaution when harvesting rose petals: whichever variety you grow, do not treat it with chemicals, insecticidal or fungicidal products, or fertilisers. If in any doubt, refrain!

All roses are edible

Strictly speaking, all roses can be cooked and eaten, but some petals will be less flavoursome than others. Indeed, one rose petal is not the same as another. If a rose’s scent is more or less intense, the same applies to their flavours, which may be more or less sweet or more or less pronounced. One edible rose petal may have fruity aromas, another spicier or more floral aromas. Depending on rose variety (and there are nearly 40,000!), a petal will therefore present distinct flavours on the palate.

Some roses to favour

That said, certain roses stand out when discussing edible roses. If you really want to indulge and taste true rose flavour on your palate, favour botanical roses, and in particular old roses. Modern, hybridised and selected roses can of course be used in cooking but will be less flavoursome.

Among best roses, notable for flavour of their edible petals, are:

• Damask rose, much prized in perfumery, recognisable by its double flowers, most often trailing.
  

  Damask rose is highly valued for fragrance and flavour of its flowers

   

• Apothecary’s rose or old Gallica Officinalis rose, a shrub rose that produces semi-double flowers in abundance.
• Rugosa Hansa roses, particularly vigorous, producing large, very fragrant flowers, and the Rugosa ‘Frau Dagmar Hastrup’, very easy to to grow, which produces large pale-pink flowers.
• old Gros Provins Panaché rose, a very hardy shrub rose that offers huge, fragrant, pale-pink flowers variegated with white or deep pink.
• Centifolia roses, old roses with large, very full flowers rich in petals.

Petals of Gallica Officinalis rose are edible

How and when to pick them?

As with all edible flowers, rose petals should be picked early in the morning, very early, while temperatures are still cool.

1. Cut fully open roses at the base of the flower and remove the petals, removing pistils and stamens.
2. Set aside wilted or blackened petals.
3. Remove the white part of the petal at its base, which is much more bitter.
4. Wash these rose petals thoroughly, taking care to remove any small insects that may be hiding.
5. Pat them dry with absorbent paper.
6. You can now use them in cooking as you wish.

How to preserve rose petals?

Ideally, use them in the kitchen as quickly as possible. You can, however, store them in the fridge for 2 days, in a hermetically sealed container, and laid on absorbent paper.

You can also dry your petals or flower buds in a warm, dark and well-ventilated room. Simply spread them out on a tray or a rack so they do not touch for three to four weeks. You can also dry them in a dehydrator. Once completely dry, petals or buds should be placed in an airtight jar.

How to use rose in cooking?

Countless ways exist to cook edible rose petals. They can already be used to decorate salads or crudités, desserts, ice creams, to which petals add a touch of refinement. Petals can be crystallised in sugar: simply dip them in egg white, then sprinkle with caster sugar before drying in oven at 40 °C for 3 hours. They can also be used to flavour sugar.

Rose petals are delicious in syrup or sorbet, in jellies, jams or marmalades. They pleasantly flavour a vinegar or, when macerated in a spirit, can be used to make a delicious liqueur.

Rose petals pair very well with freshness of fresh cheese. Also try Indian rose lassi, often made with rosewater, or rose-flavoured butter on brioche or cake.

Finally, dried buds enhance and flavour teas and infusions.