Eating rose petals is a great way to culinaryize the decorative flowers. What you should consider when eating, you will learn in this article.
Roses are considered above all as an expression of love. But the flowers are not only a popular decoration: You can also use their petals in the kitchen.
However, you need to follow a few tips. There are now up to 250 different varieties, and new ones are constantly being added through breeding. Only a few of them are actually suitable for consumption.
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Eating rose petals: This is what you should keep in mind
To eat rose petals, you should always use wild and cultivated roses. In addition, these must belong to the Rosa genus. Other types of roses, such as peonies, Christmas roses or hollyhocks are not suitable for consumption. They are usually poisonous because, despite their name rose, they belong to other plant genera.
It is also better not to eat purchased bouquets of roses or potted roses, because they can be heavily contaminated with pesticides. Read also: “Blooming business”: the worldwide trade with the flower.
For example, you can safely eat the rose petals of the following varieties:
- Gallica
- Centifolia
- Damescena
All three species are scented roses. They therefore taste particularly intense.
How to use rose petals
If you want to eat rose petals, you can use them either fresh or dried:
- The leaves themselves are suitable as a topping for salads, vegetable pans, but also for sweet dishes such as desserts or cakes.
- If you pour hot water over them and let them steep, you can make a rose tea.
- The petals are also suitable as an ingredient for cold drinks, such as lemonades, cocktails or punch.
- Chopped small, rose petals add an interesting flavor to butter, spreads, cream cheese, hummus or other dips.
- You can also add the edible flowers to oils or vinegar and let this mixture infuse for a few days. This way you can easily make rose vinegar and rose cooking oil yourself.
You can also use rose aroma in the kitchen in the form of rose water. Originally, this comes from the Arabian region and is often used as a seasoning in the kitchen. Other products containing rose petals include rose coffee, rose petal salt, rose pepper and rose syrup.
Rose petals: tips on buying and harvesting
Many products containing rose petals can be purchased ready-made. However, you can also buy dried rose petals and use them yourself. If you want to use fresh petals, you can grow your own wild roses and harvest the leaves. You can find more information about growing roses here: Wild roses: important varieties, care and cultivation.
When harvesting, you should then follow these tips:
- Harvest the flowers just before using them. This will prevent them from wilting.
- Always choose flowers that have just opened.
- The morning is the best time. Then the essential oils have not yet evaporated due to the sunlight.
- Carefully twist the petals off the calyx so they don’t break.
- Wash your flowers carefully.
- Keep the flowers fresh in a bowl of water in case you don’t want to use them right away.
- If you want to dry them, gently pat them dry and spread them out flat on a smooth surface.
