Re: Rosewater recipe

[Rutlands <Rutlands@aol.com>]

Poster: Rutlands <Rutlands@aol.com>

One further tack-on to Imegan's recipe/caution:

That caution mentions pesticides in a way that made me (and I work at a
nursery for Sunday jollies) think of insecticides only.  FUNGICIDES ARE JUST
AS BAD IF NOT WORSE.   Make absolutely SURE that whoever grows your roses does
NOT spray for black spot either-- they may not think of a fungicide as a
pesticide.

That said,  you also want to select for FRAGRANT roses.  Some drop-dead-
gorgeous blooms don't smell for beans, and processing (except for the
Apothecaries' Rose), will not improve them...  

     This isn't rosewater, but for a home product I mention rose rotgut.
Years ago, and not knowing any better, my mother filled up 1/2 of a 10-gallon
demijohn with rose petals, added 3-4 pounds of sugar, and some yeast, let it
bubble away for a month or so, and bottled it.  The first year when we cracked
a bottle it was ghastly; two years later we tried another and it was a sort of
alcoholic rose syrup,  stronger than most rosewater & had a kick to it you
would not believe.  Just mentioning because alcohol will dissipate in cooking
& is a good preservative.

And THAT said,  watch this space;  there'll be another Rose Tour again this
year on Memorial Day Monday, in the D.C. area, where you can actually see
period and not-period-but-old roses & buy the bushes thereof...It won't be an
event, just people getting together.   I'll have a complete Email announcement
out in a few days.   Call if interested: my phone:  (301) 834-6515.
           James of Rutland, in service.
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