Roses have been cultivated and treasured for thousands of years, but their place in our lives has never been limited to gardens and flower arrangements.
Across different cultures, rose petals have found their way into kitchens as well as gardens, adding colour, fragrance and a delicate floral flavour to both sweet and savoury dishes.
From Persian kitchens to homemade rose sugar, dried rose petals have a surprisingly rich culinary history.
So, if you've ever looked at a dried rose petal and wondered “Could I actually cook with these?”, the answer is yes — provided the petals have been specifically grown, prepared and sold for culinary use.
A Little History - Roses in the Kitchen
The use of roses in food and drink has a particularly strong connection with Persian cuisine.
For centuries, Persian cooks have incorporated the fragrance and delicate flavour of roses into their cooking. Rosewater, produced from rose petals, became an important ingredient in many traditional sweets and desserts, including baklava, Turkish delight and fragrant rice puddings.
The culinary use of roses is part of a much wider tradition in which flowers were valued not simply for their beauty, but also for their flavour and fragrance.
Rose petals can be surprisingly versatile. Their flavour can be delicate and floral, with some varieties offering sweeter or more intensely fragrant notes than others.
Before you put Petals on your Plate
There is one very important distinction to make.
Not every dried rose petal is suitable for eating.
If you intend to use dried rose petals in food or drink, make sure they have been specifically produced and sold for culinary use.
Roses grown for ornamental purposes may have been treated with pesticides or other products that make them unsuitable for consumption. Likewise, dried petals prepared for crafts or decoration should not automatically be assumed to be food-safe.
If you're growing your own roses for culinary use, choose suitable varieties and grow them without products that are unsuitable for food crops.
Once you've established that your petals are suitable for culinary use, however, there are plenty of ways to experiment.
Rose Petals in Salads
One of the simplest ways to use dried rose petals is as a finishing ingredient.
A small scattering of petals over a green salad can add a beautiful splash of colour and a subtle floral note.
They can work particularly well alongside ingredients with fresh, fruity or slightly sweet flavours.
And because dried petals are so light, you don't need very many.
Start with a small amount and see how you like the flavour.
Rose Petal Tea and Infusions
Rose petals can also be used to create fragrant infusions.
Steeped on their own, they produce a delicate floral drink. They can also be combined with other teas and botanicals to create your own blends.
Try experimenting with rose petals alongside black or green tea, or combine them with other culinary flowers and herbs.
The beauty of making your own blends is that you can adjust the proportions until you find something that suits your taste.
Rose Petals and Desserts
Perhaps the most obvious culinary use for rose petals is in sweet things.
A scattering of dried petals can turn a simple cake, biscuit, chocolate dessert or pastry into something rather special.
They provide both colour and fragrance, making them particularly lovely as a finishing touch.
Rose petals can also be incorporated into recipes where their flavour is intended to become part of the dish rather than simply being decorative.
And this is where the old Persian tradition becomes particularly interesting — rose has been used for centuries alongside sugar, nuts, fruit and fragrant spices.
Rose Petals in Savoury Cooking
Rose petals don't have to be restricted to cakes and desserts.
Used sparingly, they can add a subtle floral note to savoury dishes, particularly those inspired by Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking.
Try a small amount scattered over:
- pilaf and rice dishes
- salads
- stews
- couscous
- creamy dishes
- savoury dishes containing fruit or warming spices
The important word here is sparingly.
Rose is wonderfully fragrant, but too much can quickly overpower the other flavours in a dish.
Making you own Rose Petal Sugar
This is one of my favourite ideas from our original article because it is so simple.
Rose petal sugar is made by combining dried culinary rose petals with sugar and allowing the fragrance of the petals to infuse into the sugar.
You can leave the petals mixed through the sugar or sieve them out afterwards, depending on how you want to use it.
Rose sugar can then be used in:
- baking
- biscuits
- cakes
- desserts
- drinks
- sprinkling over fruit
- finishing homemade chocolates
And because it looks beautiful in a glass jar, homemade rose sugar can make a lovely gift for someone who enjoys cooking or baking.
It is a wonderfully simple way to preserve the fragrance of roses and bring it into the kitchen.
Don't Forget the Lavender
Rose isn't the only flower that has a place in the kitchen.
Culinary lavender can also be used in baking and drinks, although its strong fragrance means that, just like rose, a little can go a very long way.
Rose and lavender can be particularly lovely together in sweet recipes, and both can be used to flavour sugar.
They are a good reminder that flowers don't necessarily have to stay in the vase.
Sometimes they belong in the kitchen too.
A Little Goes a Long Way
If you've never cooked with rose petals before, don't be tempted to use a huge handful the first time.
The flavour and fragrance can be surprisingly powerful, particularly with strongly scented varieties.
Start with a small amount, taste as you go where appropriate, and allow the floral character to complement rather than overwhelm the rest of the dish.
Part of the fun is discovering which combinations work for you.
From Garden to Kitchen
There is something rather lovely about the idea that a rose can have several lives.
It can be admired growing in the garden.
It can be harvested and dried.
It can become part of a craft project, a botanical display or a traditional magical practice.
And, when it has been specifically grown and prepared for culinary use, it can become an ingredient too.
That connection between garden, kitchen and traditional plant lore is one of the things we find so fascinating about working with botanicals.
Flowers aren't merely beautiful things to look at.
Sometimes they have a history, a fragrance, a flavour and a story that is much bigger than the flower itself.