“Happy and dirty beneath a canopy of fragrant flowers and petals”
Did you know that I have been a perfumer? As a toddler I would shuffle on my bottom down the garden path with a little plastic pail with some water at the bottom and into this I tumbled scented rose petals which had fallen from my Father’s roses. All of this sloshed around as I shuffled and picked; happy and dirty beneath a canopy of fragrant flowers and petals. My Father, Sidney-William was a rose grower who grafted roses onto rootstock. So there were roses for what seemed liked miles and miles around our house; perfect material for making perfume with a bucket of water! Sadly my childhood ambition to make real perfume from the petals of roses was never fully realised. But as an adult, I have discovered how to capture that fragrance in the kitchen.
I eat Rose petal and Lavender sugar every day, either on my fruit compote or on natural yoghurt for breakfast. Sometimes I have honey as well. Roses, Lavender, and Honey; I must be in heaven! I sprinkle this special sugar on berries when I serve meringues, I use it in cakes, on summer fruit with ice-cream or on anything I want to make really special. Unlike my Father, I do not have an extensive rose garden but the roses I grow are all fragrant and easy to pick as they hang over my Kitchen garden fence.
This sugar will not keep a fresh pink colour, but it will hold a rosy scent and a sweetness scented by a rose filled summer, long after the last petals have fallen and up until the new flowers are in bud. You can keep it in the fridge if it gets very sticky, or simply mix it with some Lavender flower sugar. Lavender sugar is always a little more dry, so it will help to give the blend a better consistency. No measuring, no expensive ingredients (if you can pick from your own or a friend’s garden) and full of old-fashioned fragrance. Go on, capture this evocative scent today…it’s so easy!
Pick some scented rose heads when they are dry, pull off the petals, discarding the stem and stamen. Finely chop the petals by hand or for a few seconds in a mini blender and mix into some caster sugar and store in a jar…..voila!
(Always make sure to use roses which have not been sprayed with insecticides).
Dartmoor Flower Shed 
Karen, this is wonderful! I love the childhood memories (of course I do!) and your photo is superb–so rich in color and texture! I’ve heard of flavored or scented sugars but have never really thought that it would be something I could manage–you make it sound so easy and so worth doing!
Thank you so much Kerry. Of course you can do it! The Lavender one is so easy, you just pop the whole flower heads in a jar of caster sugar. The same way you would do it with Vanilla pods. I am so glad that you like the idea!
I can so clearly recall the shuffling on my bottom- one of my earliest memories…oh, and all those Rose names, Masquerade, Peace, Blue Moon, Iceberg, Queen Elizabeth……
A lovely post Karen .. thoughts of your father’s wonderful rose garden. I’ve never made, nor eaten, rose petal sugar… think I’ll give it a try!
Thank you so much. Do try it one day!
Sounds delightful.
Thank you Gretchen. I thought fragrant roses would be a sweet contrast to the “armed combat” post of yesterday.
It is so funny, but my stats rocketed yesterday, but there were no new comments or likes. I wonder if visitors were expecting a different kind of combat.
Well, I am about to go to war with the weeds and that can be pretty mean and messy!
Amazing! Who would have thought of making rose and lavender sugar?! This is totally new and such a charmng idea to me! Another reason I love your blog!
Oh, thank you so much Jan. I know how much you love flowers, so I thought it would appeal to you!
What beautiful roses! I like the idea of rose and lavender sugar. The color of the rose sugar just pops in the picture. Have a wonderful day today! It is a gorgeous day.
Honey
Thanks Honey. The weather here is not brilliant, but I am in the greenhouse sowing seeds with the radio on..I love that! Have a good weekend.
Karen.
I hope you have fun this weekend
Honey
Gee whiz, Karen – you are clever! I love rose petals. But I’ve never tried eating them. Maybe this year I will!
Oh, do make some Cynthia! You could serve it at a very English style tea, with strawberries! The scent is lovely! Thank you so much for the lovely comment.
Karen
I loved your description of childhood perfume Karen 🙂 , I’ll be telling Maddison tomorrow at her family birthday party, Sadly I can’t grow roses our soil is very alkaline, it’ll tolerate conifers but not rhododendrons, camellias or roses. I did try to correct the balance but it was impossible so I gave up. I don’t worry now though and have fewer thorns in my fingers 🙂
I think Maddison is such a lovely name. She must be so excited about her Birthday! Grandparents have such a special role to play and the relationship is so preciousl.
I am hopeless at growing roses actually and have several David Austin ones which are failing. I have never got the hang of pruning.I must try harder. I think I know what happens- trying to keep on top of the garden is exhausting and when the Autumn comes I just collapse! I must try harder this year.
Have a lovely time at the party.
Karen
I had no idea! What is Caster sugar? I would love to try this, for i have lavender & roses (i can use any roses?) How wonderful, thank you for sharing this information! I love learning new things from friends far & wide via my blogging. Your photograph is stunning! ~amy