Visiting family in South Australia recently we found ourselves in Sam’s sensational rose garden. It was mid-afternoon and the roses were wilting a little in the heat, as we all were, but the perfume was amazing. These were roses like roses used to be. You couldn’t help but push your face deep into each bloom to inhale the full magic.
At one time, when I had roses in my own garden, I used to make this recipe for rose petal sorbet, which had been supplied to me by my friend Katy. It’s the simplest thing to make but it really does capture the essence of the rose.
Make sure the rosebushes haven’t been sprayed, and if you can find them, get rich red old-fashioned roses like Papa Meillands, which will make the sorbet a brilliant crimson.
Jan
ROALD DAHL’S ROSE PETAL SORBET
570 ml water
225 gm sugar
I lemon, zest and juice
4 large handfuls of rose petals
2 teaspoons glycerin
Dissolve sugar in water in a small saucepan and boil hard for a few minutes to make a syrup.
Add lemon zest and mash in the rose petals. Cover and leave overnight.
Strain the mixture through a tea towel into a colander. Add glycerin, then lemon juice. Stir, then freeze, mixing occasionally with a stick blender to make a smooth consistency, or process in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.