Rose Petal And Rose Hip Recipes

Roses are edible, so here are a couple rose petal and rose hip recipes.

Both rose petals and rose hips can be used in the kitchen, but they are not interchangeable. Petals lend their fragrance and delicate floral flavor to jelly, syrup, sugar, and desserts. Rose hips are the fruit that develops after a rose blooms; their tart flavor works well in cooked preparations. Which part you harvest determines how you clean it, prepare it, and use it.

Choosing Roses for Cooking

Start with roses you grew yourself or another source you know has not been treated with products unsuitable for edible crops. Choose fresh, fragrant petals for the strongest floral character. Remove the pale, often bitter base of each petal when needed, and check carefully for insects. For hips, wait until the fruit is fully colored, then wash and trim it before preparing it for your recipe. Remove the seeds and irritating inner hairs rather than leaving them in food.

Be sure to harvest both the roses and the hips from rose bushes that have not been sprayed or fed with a chemical systemic.

Organic grown rose bushes are the ones you should chose to harvest from.

Rose hips are high in vitamin C and are best harvested right after a light frost when they are slightly soft.

Some gardeners prefer gathering hips after a light frost because the fruit may soften and its flavor can change. What matters most for cooking is that the hips are mature, sound, and free from spoilage. Discard damaged or moldy fruit.

There will be seeds inside of each hip that can be used to grow more roses.

There are also tiny hairs on rose hips which can be irritating to the throat.

These should be removed.

For preparations that use the rose hip flesh, split the hips and remove the seeds and inner hairs before chopping, drying, or cooking them. A fine strainer can also help when preparing a cooked rose hip liquid, but it is not a substitute for careful preparation.

Do not count on grinding alone to remove every irritating hair. Cut open the hips and scrape out the seeds and hairs before using the flesh in food, or strain cooked rose hip preparations carefully through a fine filter appropriate for the recipe.

Put the ground hips into a sieve and give it a good shaking.

Inspect the prepared fruit carefully before adding it to a recipe. The goal is to keep the irritating hairs out of the finished food, not simply to grind them into smaller pieces.

When using rose petals, be sure to cut off the white part right at the end of the petal where it attaches to the stem due to the bitterness of the white area.

Choose roses that are highly fragrant for the best outcome.

The fragrance will be evident in your food.

How Rose Petals and Rose Hips Fit Into a Homestead Kitchen

There are two different harvests on a rose bush, and each brings something special into the kitchen. The petals give you fragrance and a gentle floral flavor that can be used in jelly and other sweet preparations. The hips develop after the flowers are finished and have a more tart, fruity character. A rose hip isn't simply a dried rose petal, so it makes sense to think about the two ingredients separately when deciding which recipe to prepare.

When I have edible flowers available, I enjoy finding ways to use them beyond decoration. A recipe made with rose petals can become something special to share, especially when the flowers came from plants you cared for yourself. Rose hips offer another possibility after the summer flowers have faded. Depending on the variety, weather and harvest, the fruit may be more or less tart, and that difference affects how it tastes in cooked preparations.

Preparing the Flowers and Fruit for the Kitchen

Choose sound roses that have been grown for edible use. Flower-shop roses and decorative plants may have been treated in ways that make them unsuitable for food. For petals, gently remove the blooms, check for insects and take away the bitter pale base if needed. Use fragrant flowers when you want a stronger rose character. Petals bruise easily, so gather only what you can clean and work with comfortably.

Rose hips require more preparation. They are the fruit of the rose, and the tiny hairs around the seeds can be irritating. Split the hips, remove the seeds and hairs, then work with the cleaned flesh as the recipe requires. If you're preparing a cooked liquid, strain it carefully. The variety and size of hip influence how much usable flesh you get from a harvest, so a little preparation goes a long way toward deciding whether to make a small batch or preserve more.

Which Rose Recipe Should You Try First?

If you are most interested in a delicate floral flavor, begin with the petal recipe. A rose-petal jelly makes an attractive spread and can also be used sparingly in cooking. I have even explored combining rose-petal jelly with chicken and herbs in my honey herbed rose petal jelly chicken recipe. That is a good example of why one preserved ingredient can become the beginning of several different dishes instead of being used only on toast.

If you have hips rather than fresh petals, start with the hip recipe in the second Tasty Recipe Card. Their sharper fruit character makes them a different ingredient and gives you another way to make use of the rose bush as the seasons change. Follow the ingredient proportions and preparation method in the cards rather than treating the petal and hip recipes as interchangeable.

Questions About Cooking with Roses

Can I use petals from any rose?

Use positively identified edible roses that have not been treated with products unsuitable for food crops. Not every rose sold for decoration is intended for kitchen use.

Are rose petals and rose hips used the same way?

No. Petals provide floral fragrance, while hips are the fruit and bring a tart flavor. They also require different cleaning and preparation.

Can I save the harvest for another day?

Yes, depending on the ingredient and the recipe. Petals can sometimes be dried for culinary use, while rose hips may be cleaned and preserved using an appropriate method. Label the ingredient and keep it separate from decorative or scented supplies. For more edible flower ideas, see Cooking with Edible Flowers and Herbs.

The two recipes below give you a place to start with ingredients that are often overlooked in an ordinary kitchen. Which would you be more interested in trying: something fragrant made with petals, or something pleasantly tart made from rose hips?

Here are a few recipes for using rose petals and hips.

Want more ideas for cooking with edible flowers? Choose the free starter guide on the left or the edible flower cooking guide in my shop on the right.

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