Some of you may be enjoying more time outdoors, and hopefully, you will have a chance to enjoy fresh rose blooms. If you want to encapsulate the beautiful scent of roses throughout the rest of the year, then consider making Rose Oil, known as Huile de Rose in French.
This recipe has been translated from the 1879 edition of Nouvelle Cuisinière Canadienne.
Huile de Rose
Faites infuser un quarteron de feuilles de rose dans une pinte d'eau tiède; laissez deux ou trois jours, après cela passez au tamis; mettez ensuite une pinte de bonne eau-de-vie, une demi-livre de sucre clarifié, cannelle, macis et coriandre, un once de tout; laissez cela pendant dix jours au moins, et filtrez.
Rose Oil
Infuse a quarter-pound of rose leaves in a pint of warm water; leave for two or three days, after that, pass through a sieve; then put a pint of good brandy, a half-pound of clarified sugar, and an ounce of cinnamon, mace and coriander; leave this for at least ten days, and filter.
I'll admit, if I were to make this concoction, then I would leave out the spices. Some rose varieties already have a spicy scent beyond the traditional scent of old-world blooms. Remember, this recipe was written before the explosion of today's scented varieties. Sure, Josephine Bonaparte had as many rose varieties as one could imagine at her home at the Château de Malmaison in France. Yet, could she have envisioned filling her garden with all of the roses available today?