Putting a roof on a porch last week I was surrounded by roses and the smell kept making me think of Turkish delight! And so the craving began! But I couldn't just buy some, that would be too easy. Looking on the Internet I could see that the flavouring was from rose water, with none in the cupboard and as these roses smelt so good I decided to make some myself.
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| Rose petals |
I gathered a large bag of roses, picked off all the petals and put them in a large pan with a little water. In the centre of this pan I placed an empty Pyrex jug, then placed the lid on the pan upside down. Make sure the jug is spaced off the bottom of the pan with some mesh otherwise it might crack!
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| Making Rose water |
The infused distilled water from the rose petals rises up, hits the lid, runs to the lowest point and drips into the jug. Not a very quick process but it workedand was easy, I didn't have much, in fact probably just enough to make about a pound of something very sweet!
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| My rose water - very unimpressive amount! |
1lb sugar
Some gelatine
1/2 pint of water
2 table spoons of rose water
Icing sugar
cornflower
I could have used food colouring as well to make it pink but we haven't got any and why bother when it wont alter the taste just add E numbers?
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| Quite a bit of sugar needed |
Basically the water and gelatin go in first until it's dissolved, then the sugar is added. It's all boiled for about 15 mins, then taken off the heat, the rose water is then added and stirred in before being poured into a silicone mould (which has been lightly oiled to stop it sticking, it's very sticky).
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| Letting it set |
I let it set over night in the fridge before putting it on a chopping board coated with a light mixture of sugar and cornflower.
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| Dust with icing sugar mixed with a little corn flower |
I cut it up into small squares and rolled eat one round in the sugar mix so they wouldn't stick to each other. Words can't desribe how sticky this stuff is until you do that!
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| Finished! Tastes good! |
It tastes just like proper Turkish delight and the roses come through just right.
I've never made anything with roses before, but as I haven't got much other produce to use at the moment I thought this was a fun way to spend a few rainy evenings! Anyone else made anything with roses?
What a creative way to use wet weather! - am SO impressed with your Turkish Delight and the distillation method. I would never have thought of trying that.
ReplyDeleteWe've had so much wet weather it was nice to think of something interesting to do! Thanks for your comment
DeleteThe lid and jug trick is very clever! Can I have a taste?
ReplyDeleteCheers Em, I'll try to save you some and bring it with me next time I'm over.
DeleteThanks for this. Am going to have a go. Never knew about the distillation method, being the non-scientific type. lol This'll impress the family:o)
ReplyDeleteOnly produce that we have at the mo is a bit of fruit.. blueberries and the odd strawberry. Snails have chomped everything, including my beloved courgettes.
Thanks for your comment, You might have to alter the recipy a bit if you're to try it as I see on your blogs you're vegan and this uses gelatin, there's recipies on the internet using cornflower instead or I think you can buy vegatarian gelatin. As for other produce I might have had the odd strawberry, raspberry and blueberry but they've never made it back to the house!
DeleteOh that turkish delight looks devine! Looks like it was truly worth the attempt to make the rose water even if it was a big effort for little result :)
ReplyDeleteOther than potpourri I havent really tried anything with rose petals but I believe you can make jam with them :)
Jam with rose petals sound interesting I might have to search the web for a recipy on that one! Thanks for your comment.
DeleteI have always wondered about Turkish delight since reading of Edmund's obsession with it in The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe when I was wee and impressionable lad.
ReplyDeleteMy mother refused to make it saying it was disgusting.
What i do know? We are Americans!
It certainly looks good. Great idea on the distillation.
Dont tell anyone, but I'm fairly sure I've never read The loin, The Witch and the Wardrobe! As for the distillation I did see simular on the internet so not my idea I'm afraid!
DeleteCheers for stpping by.
Very clever on how to make your rose water!
ReplyDeleteI love Turkish delight but have never considered making it. You've made it seem quite possible, I just need to check the allotment for a few remaining rose petals.
ReplyDeleteIf I had seen this post before today I would have asked you for a taster!
ReplyDeleteLovely to see you all - hope you enjoyed the visit :-)
This is brilliant! I love Turkish delight. I have tasted the real stuff when I was in Cyprus and shop bought never seemed up the mark. Sadly, we don't have roses here so maybe I will try it with whatever tropical flowers smell nice.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say, 'Man's Man', don't you really mean, 'Made Man'?
I have made turkish delight in the past and used a little beetroot cooking water to colour it = colour without the e-numbers
ReplyDeleteRosepetal jam is nice but you need loads of petals and the wild roses are best in my humble opinion
the rose water makes an excellent air freshener spray too
Looks fantastic
ReplyDeleteMy mother in law loves Turkish Delight so I may have to try this at some point, and stupidly I didnt ever think that making rose water was that simple........x