Back in December (which seems so long ago now) I had my family come and visit for a few weeks to celebrate Christmas with Nathan and I. It was a pretty full on month and as well as my Dad, Step Mum and little brother Kiran staying with us, my Grandmother from Sri Lanka was also here as well as my sister Nicole from the UK. It was pretty crazy, but so much fun too. Tarini’s best friend from Australia came to Dubai for 2 weeks with her twin daughters; Katie & Hannah. After everyone left in early January Katie stayed on to help me with my last wedding and offically be my first ever intern at MLW. It wasn’t until she left that I realise how much help she was. I miss her! I gave her a task of creating DIY blogs and left her to be creative. So with that being said I’m going to leave you with this…
What you will need:
- 1 cup of rose petals (about 2 roses)
- 2 cups (475ml) of distilled water
- 1 teaspoon of vodka (optional)
- 2 mason jars
What to do:
Select some fresh roses and rinse them, the fresher the roses are the better. Make sure to rinse off any dirt, insects and pesticides. Try to use organic, pesticide-free roses if you can. Another tip is to just use one type of rose, as you may not get good smelling results by mixing different types.
Pull the petals off and discard the rest of the rose. You will need enough petals to fill one cup. This should take about two roses, depending on the size.
Place the petals into a saucepan and pour water over them. Make sure they are evenly distributed and that the water level does not come too far past the petals. Too much water may lessen the fragrance of your rosewater.Add one teaspoon of vodka or pure alcohol. This is simply to help preserve the rosewater and make it last longer.
Cover the pot with a lid and set the heat to ‘low’. Do not let the water come to a boil or simmer, as too much heat will ruin the colour. Leave for about 20 minutes. You should see the petals becoming paler and the water turning a pinkish red colour. The strainer is there to catch the petals so they don’t slip into the jar. After they are caught in the strainer, feel free to discard them.
Last step is to seal the jar and store in fridge. This rosewater is best used as soon as possible, as it will expire within one week.
So there you have it folks… something fun and very easy to do at home. You can sue rosewater for cooking, flavoring food and even home made beauty products. I would probably do some further Google research before making your own beauty products 😉
Massive thanks to the lovely Katie for creating this blog for us at MLW. We miss you… come back soon!!
