Since the ginger beer that I made a few weeks ago was a great hit, I thought I'd have a go at the 'Sparkling Rose Petal' drink that Sally Wise has included in her book - A year in a bottle. The family did the 'Why on earth would you want to drink rose petals?' thing on me but as I pointed out to them, they don't have to drink it - just humour me while I have a go at making it... Here's what happened!
The biggest problem I had was where to get rose petals. I had thought of neighbours and relatives that grow them but collecting them all at once in lrge enough quanities was proving to be a stumbling block... So when I came across a stall at the markets that sold big bags of rose petals for $3, I had to give it a go!!
So first I gave all the petals a quick soak and a shake to make sure that I had washed off any bugs and/or chemicals that they may have been sprayed with (even though the lady assured me they didn't spray...) The recipe called for 300gms of red or white rose - petals and I used 150gms of mixed petals as beggars cant be choosers!
The recipe here has been followed as for 300gms - as I didn't think to halve everything when I realised I only had half the amount of petals. So if you are going to have a go at this recipie, either double the rose petals to 300gms or halve the rest of the ingrediants....
The recipe here has been followed as for 300gms - as I didn't think to halve everything when I realised I only had half the amount of petals. So if you are going to have a go at this recipie, either double the rose petals to 300gms or halve the rest of the ingrediants....
In a pot I dissolved 3 cups of raw sugar with 4 cups of boiling water.
Then I added 14 cups of cold water, 2 roughly chopped whole lemons, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (the recipe said white but I didn't have any and it has made it such a pretty colour as well!) and lastly the washed rose petals.
Then I mixed the lot together and left it to sit on the bench for 3 days covered with a tea towel.
I poked it every couple of days to sink the petals and mix it up a bit. It started 'fizzing' on day three and I decided that it was probably time to bottle it and popped it into a couple of drunken ginger beer bottles and one glass one. I'll have to keep an eye on that one and make sure the pressure doesn't build up too much.
You are meant to wait up to 10 days for it to go fizzy but mine is more or less there already. I'm going to leave it for another day and then refrigerate it and start to drink it - my taste tests were really nice. Its got a bit of a lemon tang (probably cause it has double the amount of lemon and vinegar) - with a really nice rose after taste and rose bubbles in it.
If you have access to a a bunch of rose petals - this is a 'something different' fermented drink to try! Let me know how yours turns out if you make it!!!
Here is a link to another version of a rose petal drink and one for making rose wine which could be a bit of fun as well!
Score card:
Green-ness: Making your own food is the best green thing to do!
Frugal-ness: If you have access to free rose petals - very frugal indeed!
Time cost: Quicker than ginger beer! 20 mins to make, 3 days on the bench and 10 minutes to bottle.
Skill level: Super easy - good one for the kids.
Fun -ness: Great fun to make something so different!
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