How to Make Rose Water

Summer is here and almost everything in the garden is blooming. I have a couple of rose bushes that are growing big lovely roses.  I figured now is the perfect time to try making homemade rose water. Rose water has many uses in beauty products. You can mix it to make custom lotions, soaps, body sprays and cleansers. There are plenty of ways you can make rose water. In this tutorial I'll be steaming the roses in water and collecting the condensation to use in my recipes.



Supplies:

The biggest pot you can find.
Brick
Metal bowl
Curved pot lid
Rose petals (about 4-6, cups the more the better!) I used fresh rose petals from the garden. It’s best to use fresh petals from your garden or from the garden of a generous friend. Flowers from a florist may have been grown using pesticides.  Make sure your rose petals are clean and free of dirt or bugs.
Water (about 4-6 cups)
Ice

Put your pot on the stove and place the brick in the center,

Now add your rose petals around the brick. Add water to the pot using just enough so the water is almost level with the height of the brick.

Place your metal bowl on top of the brick.
Turn the stove onto high heat so that the water will boil.

Place the pot lid on the pot upside down.  Once the Water is boiling add ice to the middle of the lid.

The water will start to boil and steam. As the steam rises it will hit the top of the cold lid, condense and then roll down and drip  into the metal bowl. The water that has dripped down into your metal bowl is your rose water.

It takes about an hour for all the water to steam. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure the water doesn’t dry all the way up.

Once all the rose water has been collected pour it into a sterile jar and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Ya, it doesn't look like much but it smells great!

I mixed mine with witch hazel (equal parts) and plan to use it as a facial toner. You could also try this with herbs instead of rose petals to make herb extracts or other fragrant flowers such as lilac or jasmine.

I'll be sharing some alternate ways to make rose water soon. I just need to wait for more roses to grow. Stay tuned!