Flavoring with Roses.....

Roses are beautiful...and smell great.

It's time to use them to up flavor profiles.  I can't wait to taste the infusions, and they sure are pretty while resting...The lovely jars are IKEA.  You can use any small jar you have on hand.

Honey, White Vinegar, Gin

Select tight, moist, non-wilted roses..

Aren't these Flowers from my boyfriend lovely...
The roses are from Whole Foods.

Clip close to the head of the flower

Give the roses a bath in running water to wash an impurities off

Pat dry with a clean paper towel and let air dry for 15 mins to get rid of any extra moisture.

I set mine under a ceiling fan, to help dry them

Drop a single bud into a small vase. I used 3 roses and 3 different liquids, you can do all three, or the ones you have on hand

They are going to be beautiful...

Pour in you liquids slowly...give them a gentle swirl 

Honey

White Vinegar

Gin

Make sure the roses are submerged

If you use honey or another thick liquid, make sure it gets underneath the rose

Bottom of Honey jar

Let sit for at least a week, give them a gentle swirl everyday.  I put the honey on the sunny back porch to warm it up a little and let the honey work it's magic...

The liquids will be fine indoors, but to help the honey get into the rose, I put the honey on the porch to warm it up

Resting 

honey

They sure are beautiful...I may never try and use them in cooking... :)

Infused Spirits

The first time I ever had cocktail with herbs in it, was in Las Vegas...at a restaurant called Boa in Caesars.  I had a lovely cocktail before dinner.

I decided, it was time to venture out and try to create my own.  A few herbs, a few jars and some gin...and it's time to get started.

The gin I had on hand was New Amsterdam.  This is a good dirty martini making gin.  I keep it on hand in the freezer to enjoy a drink or two on occasion.

Step 1:

Make sure your infusing containers are clean. And then dry.

 a nice soak in some hot soapy water

 a good scrub

 a rise in some more hot water

 a drain

 more draining

Dry with a clean towel (paper of fabric)

Step 2

Prepare your herbs.  Fresh herbs are a fabulous culinary ingrediant...they should be used in everyday cooking as needed.  Check out this fresh herb website for tips and to answer any questions.  I used fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, fresh mint and dried lavender.  Fresh lavender would  probably be better, but I only had dried on hand.  

My Herb Pot on my porch - Rosemary, Parsley, Mint and Thyme

Fresh herbs are the best.  If you
can keep a pot in your kitchen, a window sill or outside on the porch those are the best to you.  Fresh picked and ready to go with a quick bath and a chop or crush.

Rosemary is by far my favorite herb.  I think I would sleep with it under my pillow if I could.  I use it faster than I can grow it....

Mint might do best in its own pot, mine is taking over this pot.  It might be time to transplant and have two pots going on my porch...
 

Upclose and personal with my herbs...

Break large pieces and lightly crush herbs with your hands



break larger pieces in half

Make sure to give fresh herbs a quick bath

Rub the herbs in your hands to release the fragrance

Every day, for at LEAST a week, give the jars a good hake.  I also turn them over and set them on their tops for a few minutes.  I don't let them sit upside down for very long, since they aren't sealed totally.  I don't want them to leak,  If you have screw top jars, you can leave them upside down each day and just keep turning them over.

Shake, Shake, Shake 

After a week, give them a taste and you can use them in any drink that strikes your fancy.  As the level of the jars decreased, push the remaining herbs down in the alcohol or start to remove them, so they are always submerged.

Resting

NOTE: If the alcohol begins to taste to strong, just strain out the herbs...the alcohol should keep a long, long time.  If it lasts that long..

CHEERS!