Rose Water
Pick plenty of petals from damask or gallica roses. Check for insects, then pack them into a thick-based pan to a quarter full, and cover with distilled water up to half full. Bring very gently to the boil, and simmer over low heat, uncovered, until the water is reduced by half, and only just covering the roses. Let cool and strain out the petals. Store in a sterile bottle in the fridge.
The essential oil of rose is difficult to extract, and very costly
and white roses as their symbols, fighting for supremacy in what became known as the Wars of the Roses. Today, roses are still our most popular flower, and Rose Cottage the most common house name in the country. Synonymous with home and hearth to the Americans is the white picket fence, to the British the roses around the door.
Culpepper in the late sixteenth century has this to say on the virtues of roses: “The distilled water of roses is good for the strengthening of the heart, and refreshing of the spirits, and likewise for all things that require a gentle cooling. The same being put in junketting dishes, cakes, sauces, and many other pleasant things, giveth a fine and delectable taste. It mitigateth the pain of the eyes, bringeth sleep, which also the fresh roses themselves provoke through their sweet and pleasant smell.”
‘Aromatherapists regard rose oil as a powerful healer for emotional problems, assisting in post-natal depression, stress and sadness. ’
Mrs Leyel, in the early twentieth century, tells us that the petals contain glucose, gallic acid and quercitrinic acid (and we now know that there is also a volatile oil, geraniol, nerol, citronellol, geranic acid, eugenol and myrcene). She gives recipes for syllabub of roses, honey of roses and syrup of roses, all using the petals, and a conserve of hips. One of my own earliest memories is of ‘helping’ my grandmother at a postwar baby clinic, dispensing rationed rosehip syrup, rich in vitamin C, to mothers for their infants.
The essential oil of rose is difficult to extract, and very costly, but goes a long way. It makes a lovely present for a woman whose femininity requires a boost, such as after a difficult childbirth*, divorce, or treatment for breast cancer. Aromatherapists regard rose oil as a powerful healer for emotional problems, assisting in post-natal depression, stress and sadness.
Rose water can be made simply at home, and keeps for a few days in the fridge. It’s a splendid facial tonic, especially for dry, sensitive or mature skins and has a refining and softening effect. If you don’t have the roses, or the time, but do have the money, Weleda make a lovely range of rose-based skin preparations.
Rose water can be used on minor cuts and wounds to help prevent infection, and reduces the swelling of bruises and sprains.
‘Rosewater is a splendid facial tonic, especially for dry, sensitive or mature skins’
Rose petals as medicine have an affinity with the female reproductive system. They have a decongestant action, and have been used to treat congestion in the uterus causing heavy or irregular periods, and infertility. Both rose seeds and petals have a diuretic action, relieving fluid retention. The tannins they contain (which is what makes them astringent) is used to staunch bleeding, can help dry phlegm and other discharges. An infusion is therefore useful for diarrhoea, enteritis and dysentery. It can also be used as a mouthwash for mouth ulcers or inflamed, bleeding gums, and as gargle for sore throats.
*Do note, however, that rose oil and the herb can stimulate the uterus, so it’s best not to use it during pregnancy.
Caroline Sheldrick MNIMH practises herbal medicine and grows roses in Gloucestershire.
Rose Water – use plenty of petals from damask or gallica roses
A huge range of hardy, healthy, fragrant roses, all grown by us
For your free colour catalogue, contact: The Cornish Rose Company,Mitchell Lane, Mitchell, Newquay TR8 5AX 01872 519146
sales@thecornishrosecompany.co.uk www.garden-roses.co.uk
Country Gardener 23
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