Rose Medicine
In October, we focused our attention on the shift to Fall and lots of root medicine. This week we will shift our focus above ground once again and look to rose.
While the beautiful petals of the Summer have mostly left us, the other gift of rose can be readily found on the naked stems: rose hips. These orange to red little gems pack a lot of medicine into their fleshy bodies. Just take care to avoid the seeds and the irritating hairs found within the jewel-like case. Nibbling the outer portion of rose hips straight off the bush is one of the treasures of this time of year and is the best way to incorporate the high levels of Vitamin C found within.
Let’s look at the nutritional properties of rose hips that make them such a fantastic medicinal food, take a moment to appreciate the application of rose petals along with their unique biochemistry, and play with a couple recipes one for each plant part one extremely simple and the other that is slightly reminiscent of a middle school chemistry class.
What counts as a rose?
Looking at wild roses vs ornamental roses, the two plants look quite different. As with all foods, the closer you are to the wild variety, the more nutrients you are likely to find. That being said, any rose variety can be used for food and medicine, but you want to make sure the plant hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals. I like working with the 5 petaled wild varieties of rose when I can work with them, but I do still enjoy working with more domesticated varieties.
A quick way to determine if you want to work with a rose is to check for the smell of the flowers, you want petals that are rich in the heady aroma of rose. Then come back later and taste the hips. Are they sweet, tart, tasteless? You want a hip that you find delicious. Rose hips have a delightful combination of tart astringency and sweet moistening qualities but the balance of this combination will be different in different species as well as growing conditions.
As a rule, do not use the petals from roses you pick up in a bouquet - they are usually heavily sprayed with chemicals to preserve their lifespan in a vase of water.
Rose petals:
In the summer, Portland lives up to its name as the “City of Roses”. Taking a tour of the International Rose Test Garden is quite a treat. There you will see roses in many different shapes, colors, and fragrances. It is a nice way to introduce oneself to the variety found within roses.
Rose petals have been used in teas, cosmetics, and skin care products as long as we have recorded history. The deep red and pink varieties can be used to make blush and lip stain. Rose petals make a lovely addition to a tea or bath (just be prepared to scrub afterwards to avoid staining). But my favorite way to work with rose petals is to make rose water or hydrosol.
If you are a lover of essential oils, you may have noticed that rose essential oil is quite expensive. You are much more likely to find rosewater being sold on the shelves at a reasonable price. But, you can make your own rosewater at home making it even more affordable! If you choose to make a hydrosol, you will have a beautiful liquid that is full of rose essential oils as well as the other water soluble contents of rose petals such as tannins and other flavonoids making them antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and astringent. Rose water is my favorite facial toner as my skin tends to run on the dry side. I also will substitute rose water for plain in different body care recipes to increase the benefits and add a lovely aroma. Members will be enjoying a virtual herbal skin care class later this month where we will make a facial cream that smells of roses and chocolate that features rose water!
Rose petals themselves are edible as well making them again a great addition to a tea but also as a food. Fresh rose petals can be sprinkled on cakes, salads, or other dishes, and dried petals can be ground into a lovely powder that can be used to color foods while adding aroma and slight tartness. Rose water is featured heavily in many Middle Eastern dishes.
Topical use only: Rose petals infused in witch hazel
Commercial witch hazel is not for oral consumption, but makes a great solvent to extract the color, aroma, and flavonoids from rose petals. Use this as a facial mist or ingredient in other cosmetic/skincare recipes.
Ingredients:
Mason jar
Rose petals
Witch hazel
Directions:
Add your rose petals to your jar. If using fresh, pack the petals in. If using dried, only fill the jar loosely and just to about ¾ full.
Pour in the witch hazel to cover the petals and put a lid on your jar.
Place your jar in a dark, temperature controlled location like a cabinet or closet.
Let the rose petals infuse into the witch hazel for 6 weeks shaking the jar as you remember or once a day.
Strain, compost your spent petals (look how pale they are!), and use your rose water within 2 months.
Stovetop Rose Hydrosol - good for internal and external use
This recipe is a bit more complex and reminds me of middle school science class. Here we are going to make a very simple setup for capturing rose water that is full of essential oils without using any solvents other than water.
Ingredients:
Large stock pot with a lid.
A brick or flat rock
Rose petals
Water
Ice
Smaller bowl
Mason jar
Instructions:
Place your brick or flat rock in the bottom of your stock pot
Fill your stock pot with rose petals just to the top of your brick or rock
Place your smaller bowl on top of the brick/rock - this will be collecting your rose water
Carefully, add water to your rose petals keeping the liquid line well below the top of your collection bowl.
Turn on the heat to your desired burner and bring your roses and water to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer.
While the water and roses mix, water will condense on your lid. This is what we are collecting. To encourage this process, turn your lid upside down and fill with ice. The coldness of the ice will speed the rate of condensation of the rose water steam allowing it to drip into your bowl much faster.
As the bowl fills, empty the contents into your waiting jar. I like to use a large syringe or turkey baster for this process.
When the rose petals are pale or an hour has passed, stop the process and enjoy your rose water.
The water that remains in your pot will contain most of the rose petal pigments and makes a fantastic healing compress for hot irritated skin. This will only be good to use for 1-2 days, but your hydrosol due to the higher concentration of essential oils will last for a week or two.
Rose hips:
Tart, red, astringent, sweet, these are some of the qualities of rose hips. Rose hips can be eaten fresh as long as you avoid the seeds and tiny irritating hairs found within. Fresh right off the stem rose hips will have their highest concentration of vitamin C which rose hips are famous for. Dried, rose hips are still full of many wonderful nutrients, but the vitamin C starts to degrade quickly and will not be in especially high levels in dried hips.
An easier way to work with fresh rose hips is to freeze them and then cut them and remove the inner hairs and seeds. Once processed like this, they will retain more vitamin C than their dried counterparts, and they make a lovely tart addition to your morning bowl of oats, sweet breads, jams, syrups, cocktails, vinegars, and can even be fermented into a homemade soda.
Rose hips while containing more vitamin C than oranges and much less sugar are also lauded for their antioxidant and flavonoid properties which are overall anti-inflammatory, heart healthy, and straight up nourishing in nature. Energetically they are cooling and moistening which can be especially beneficial in hot/dry - irritated conditions.
My preferred way to work with rose hips is to combine them with elderberry syrup and make a quick refrigerator jam. The pectin content of the rose hips will hold your jam together without the need to add copious amounts of sugar or cook your concoction down. I am notorious for making syrups when I intend to make jams, but this rose hip jam never fails me.
"Voila! First Time Rose Hip Jam" by cogdogblog is marked with CC0 1.0
Elderberry Rose hip Jam
You will need elderberry syrup ready to go for this recipe. You can make your own following my instructions outlined in my Elderberry Medicine article.
Ingredients:
Jam jar
Elderberry syrup
Rose hips - fresh or dried
Directions:
Add rose hips to your jar. If using fresh, make sure they have been cleaned of seeds and hairs, give them a good chop and fill your jar. If using dried, only fill your jar ½ way.
Add elderberry syrup to top off your jar, put a lid on it.
Transfer your jar into your refrigerator and allow the magic to happen over the next 12-24 hours.
After your wait, open your jar to find a thick, tart medicinal jam.
Eat this jam as you wish. If you develop loose stools, don’t eat quite as much. Both elderberry and vitamin C have an osmotic laxative effect which can be quite beneficial if you are constipated, but can be uncomfortable otherwise.
I hope you have enjoyed these recipes as well as an introduction to rose medicine. Rose medicine is quite a large topic due to the nourishing qualities of this medicinal food. It’s a theme you will encounter often when working with plants. They never do just one thing, and when they are rich in flavonoids, they will always have a greater scope of effects. Remember, only plants give you flavonoids and whoever eats the most flavonoids wins in terms of health benefits.
To our health!
References:
De La Foret, R, Han, E, Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your own Herbal Medicine Hay House, 2020
