Introduction: Liqueur of a Thousand Roses

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About: I like to explore new things and try out stuff. At the moment I'm in to electronics, BLE and LEDs.

In my garden I have a bush of roses 'rosa centifolia' which is an old ancient type of rose. It's the kind of rose that is used for fragrances and perfumes.
The downside of the beautiful scent is the fact that they only bloom once a year and the blossoms fade in one day.

That's why this year I chose to make some liqueur with this beautiful scent.

Step 1: You Need

To make roundabout 1 liter of liqueur you need:
  • 20 fresh blossoms of rosa centifolia (pesticides free)
  • 2 teaspoons of Vitamin C or the juice of one lemon.
  • 0.7 liter of Vodka, can be a cheap one
  • 0.3l of water
  • a big jar
  • 100-200g of sugar
Make sure that no poison of any kind was applied to the rose, because the toxic substances may still be in the plant and harmful to your health! Sometimes it takes up to several months to metabolize the poison once applied.

Step 2: Preparing the Roses

Get 20 beautiful roses straight from the bush. Make sure there are no ants or other insects inside, but do NOT wash them!

Rip off the green chalice from the bottom of the blossom and put the petals in a jar. Fill up with the vodka and let it rest for one day.

Step 3: Remove the Blossoms

After some hours the blossoms will have lost their color and also their scent to the vodka. Now it is time to remove the rest of the blossoms.
I didn't use Vitamin-C from the beginning, that is why the vodka turned into a rather dark brown. But the color changed back to a certain degree.

Step 4: Finishing

Now that the beautiful scent is in the vodka you can create a beautiful liqueur.
My vodka had 40% vol. alcohol, a bit too much for such a delight liqueur. And of course you don't have to make all the liqueur the same.
For a first test I took 200ml of scented vodka, added 100ml of water and 20g of sugar and just a bit of additional vitamin C.

Step 5: Variations

If you like it very sweet, try some more sugar, or add some honey although this is going to change the taste a bit.

Or add some ginger.

Add some white wine instead of water and vitamin-C.

Or substitute the vitamin-C with lemon or lime-juice.