Make Medicinal Rose Honey

Roses have long been powerful symbols throughout human history.

Love, passion, beauty, excitement and lust among many. These herbaceous shrubs have connections in many cultures, religions and even have ties in the metaphysical world in magic practices. They are the extravagant gesture of one’s affections and have many healing and beneficial properties for the body.

According to The Herbal Academy

The following are key actions attributed to the rose:

• antidepressant

• antispasmodic

• aphrodisiac

• astringent

• antibacterial

• antiviral

• antiseptic

• anti-inflammatory

• blood tonic

• cleansing

• digestive stimulant

• expectorant

• increases bile production

• kidney tonic

• menstrual regulator

Honey as well in my opinion is an extravagant delectable. When my mind thinks of honey, I think of baths made of milk for ancient queens, artisan tea gatherings in olden times and the painful and beautiful art of keeping and tending to the vivacious workers in the apiary. What an amazing way to honor your self and your body, with a lavish and healing treat.

COLLECTING ROSES

In terms of which roses you sound use for infusions or extracts, most all rose varieties are edible and usable however using roses that are powerfully fragrant are going to be your best choices. There are thousands of rose species growing wild throughout the southern and northern hemispheres should you choose to wildcraft, and all parts of the rose are edible. Flowers, petals, rosehips, root, root bark, and essential oil, but a word to those purchasing:

DO NOT BUY ROSES for consumption from florists (I suggest speaking with the owner) as most are sprayed with harmful chemicals that will be absorbed. Even nursery’s are most times are spraying and so speaking to someone there on weather or not they carry organic specimens s crucial. Wildcrafting, purchasing dried organic roses online or growing them in your garden will be your safest ally.

CREATING YOUR SPACE

Creating medicinal, magical tonics, syrups, honeys, is singing that fulfills me and calms the wildness within me that has built up through the day. Mothering a four year old with patience and understanding is one of the most insanely difficult things (and I’m sure all of my parents reading this can agree) and with the addition of the normal day to day bumps in the road, setting a space outside on my back covered porch with the breeze is something quite hypnotic. If intention is something of value to you, I would highly suggest planning it out.

INFUSING YOUR HONEY

Take your rose pedals and a sanitized mason jar and fill the jar with minimal space left. If you have a rose extract you’ve created, you do not have to fill the jar entirely, you can use the pedals decoratively or play around with how intense you’ll want your fragrance and flavor. Filling the jar to the top ensures a robust smell and taste if an extract is not being used. With roses, dry or fresh is able to be used. I like to soak my roses in Luke warm water for up to an hour to ensure any critters within the roses come out. Some people also do this by simply laying them on paper towels. If you decide to bath them, just make sure you dry them properly to ensure no mold occurs in your infusion.

After your pedals are in, you may now have the satisfaction of pouring in your honey. It’s entirely personal which honey you use, however if you are creating these infusions I assume that you are doing so for the quality. If so, I’ll want to make sure you use a RAW honey that has never been heated to prevent crystallization or texture tampering (I will provide a separate segment on why this matters, sign up for the newsletter to be notified when the article is posted!)

Pour honey atop the roses and use a fork or any clean object to push them down to prevent air bubbles. After your jar is filled, seal, wipe down and give the jar a few turn overs to get rid of any bubbles that may have occurred. Some people like to leave in a windowsill, others prefer to place in a cool dark area and others say three days is suffice to infuse the honey. I leave my jars in a warm sunny area for a month or more.

A FEW WAYS TO ENJOY

• on toast // waffles // pancakes

• in tea

• if you didn’t stain out the pedals , honey can be used as a drizzle or decorative topping

• Yogurt with fruits

• you can take a note from my sister in law who prefers to enjoy a spoon full

• oatmeal

• add as a sugar // flavor substitute in your baking

If you’ve enjoyed this segment of Infusions + Honey please feel free to share the magic and goodness for others to enjoy

Xoxo