Folkways
by Maya Brown Zniewski. Illustration by
Avram Dumitrescu.
W
ROSe aND ROSehIP, The QUeeN Of fLOWeRS
e all know what they look like;
there are ten thousand kinds.
They are renowned and timeless
for their scent and beauty in every form of
art and literature. Roses are loved from
when we were very young for their soft
petals and glorious colors. Of course, we
also learn about their thorns, and when the
bloom is gone there are the bright red-
orange rosehips.
As a little one I loved the rose garden of
our local priest. There were rows and rows
of every variety of ancient roses, every color,
size and shape of bloom, from the finest tiny
tea rose to blooms larger than a dinner
plate. I remember traipsing through them
and only occasionally getting my hair
caught in a thorn; I made beds out of the
petals, floating away on rose clouds to my
fairyland built of flowers. The scent and
color of roses lift our souls, but they also
have medicinal uses.
When you are using roses for food and
medicine you want the oldest variety you
can find, not a hybrid. I use Apothecary’s
Rose, but the others are Wild Rose, Dog
Rose, Brier Rose, Prairie Wild Rose,
Arkansas Rose, Meadow Rose, Pasture
Rose, French Rose, Cabbage Rose (the one
with the luscious huge blooms we’ve all
enjoyed) and the Texas Yellow Rose.
There are many, many more. Rose medi-
cine is one thing that I would recommend
for everyone, but especially for women.
Your grandma probably made rose
syrup, candied roses, rose salve, rose tinc-
tures, rose honey and rose cakes. For a won-
derful, fast and easy desert try a Moroccan-
inspired rose cake. Slice a pound cake (pre-
made is fine!) and drizzle on rosewater, add
grated cardamom pods and let the cake
soak for an hour or so. Serve with candied
rose petals (recipe below). You can also
chop one or two tablespoons of rose petals
and add them to a basic white cake recipe,
substituting rose water for the vanilla
extract.
Candied roses are fun to make and are
edible for about eight weeks, but they do
lose their color after about two weeks. Use
one of the kinds of roses mentioned above
that have not been sprayed. I CANNOT
Eve’s Garden
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TELL YOU HOW IMPORTANT
THAT IS! With a paint brush, apply egg
whites to both sides of the rose petals, then
delicately spoon on white sugar and allow to
dry on a sheet of waxed paper. When the
egg white has dried shake off the excess
sugar. Store them in an airtight container.
I regularly make rose tincture for heart-
break and heartache. Using rose petals, rose
hips, and leaves, steep them in brandy for
three to four weeks. Take a teaspoon twice
a day. A beautiful gift is a rose salve or balm.
Stuff a small mason jar with freshly dried
rose petals, fill with any light tasting and tex-
tured oil you like (any edible oil will work:
almond, coconut or olive), infuse (soak) rose
petals in the oil for about four to six weeks.
Or you can infuse the oil with roses in the
top of a double boiler over simmering water
for four hours. Strain out rose petals, reserv-
ing the oil, and add enough beeswax to cre-
ate a salve or balm. You can also use the
rose-infused oil as it is. Rose salve is a
yummy all-around lotion but is especially
good on wounds that are hot and inflamed,
or where one has pain.
Rose hips can be harvested after the
blooms have faded. Whole rose hips make a
fine tea. Packed with vitamin C, it is excel-
lent as a hot tea in cold weather, though
much like lemon you will want to sweeten it.
It is perfect as an iced tea in the summer or
can be added to lemonade to make pink
lemonade. Recent studies have shown that a
tea made from powdered rose hips reduces
the pain and stiffness of osteoarthritis. You
will want to sweeten it with honey. Take a
cup three times a day.
So love your roses and remember, they
make our hearts sing.
Ave C & N 3rd • Marathon, TX
info@evesgarden.org
www.evesgarden.org
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