May 22, 2021

Make Your Own Flower Medicine – Rose Petal Honey

We are blessed with an herbalist for our nana and because of that, my girls can often be found eating their way across the nature trail where we live (dandelion and clover are a particular delicacy). My girls can easily identify wild mustard, elderberry, and nettles and tell you the health benefits of each and how their nana prepares them to create “flower medicine.” A favorite recipe is rose petal honey, made from the pink petals of the rosebush in our front yard. My youngest calls it her nighttime medicine because nana will give her a spoonful before bedtime when she stays with us.

The pandemic threw a wrench into how often we could see our extended family and my little Z has been begging for her rose petal honey. Our rose bush recently came into full bloom and I knew it was time to make some honey of our own. A quick text message and I had the recipe. Now I’m kicking myself for not making this earlier because it is so easy. The best part is that it only requires two ingredients – rose petals and honey!

In holistic and ayurvedic communities rose petal-infused honey is also credited with being anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and good for your heart and digestive system (among many other positive attributes).

I’m not an expert in these areas and can’t validate the claims, but we sure do love adding rose honey to our morning tea and toast. You can even eat the petals, which add a delicate sweetness to the honey.

Make Your Own Rose Petal Infused Honey

Supplies:

Cutting board
Knife
Storage container for honey (we repurposed our old Baby Bullet jars).

Ingredients:

Organic honey (preferred)
Homegrown rose petals (if you don’t grow your own, make sure you know the source is free of pesticides or other nasties.)

Instructions:

Wash your fresh rose petals. I spray my petals with a vinegar wash first and then rinse with cold water. You can also store the petals in the refrigerator for a day to kill any buggies.
Chop or tear your rose petals into small pieces. The more petals, the better; you don’t need exact measurements.
Mix petals into your container of honey and store for one week, shaking occasionally.
We upcycled our old Baby Bullet containers to make several small servings of the rose honey. I knew there was a reason I held onto these!
Enjoy! You can add your rose petal honey to tea, toast, or eat by the spoonful, as my kids prefer. The petals do not need to be strained out. They are good to eat, too!