Herbs In The Kitchen

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A Rose Scented Kitchen

By Jan Greenland

About a month ago on behalf of the Herb Society, I was broadcasting on radio Europe from my kitchen! The interviewer and technicians were in a noisy shopping mall in Marbella. The subject of the programme was “cooking with flowers”. By strange and lucky coincidence, a friend had lent me a book “cooking with flowers” a couple of weeks before.

The author, Francis Bissell, is a very experienced cook and was the cookery writer for “The Times” for many years. In 2000 she and the River Café duo were demonstrating at the Organic Food and Wine Festival in London. She was very charming and cooked smoked duck in a wok over Earl Grey tea.

I cooked herby food on the Saturday and “Bread you can trust” on the Sunday. The “Scented Kitchen” is very well researched and contains a wealth of information not obtainable elsewhere. On page 19 she even mentions Hilda Leyel and her “ice-cream of roses” (See recipe below).

Francis Bissell is thorough as well as learned and even conducts an experiment to find out whether the white base of a flower petal is bitter enough to remove. She says it is not!

Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll'

“Gertrude Jekyll” is the most fragrant modern rose and the first in 200 years to be used in the commercial production of rose oil. The traditional source of attar of roses is from Bulgaria, Kazanlik, actually. (for some obscure reason this rose has been re-named Professeur Emile Perrot)

Francis Bissell says that one can also obtain rose powder which I have never heard of!

Medicinal herbalists have told me that they use rose oil more and more for its mood enhancing properties. One need only look at the Apothecary's rose (Rosa gallica officinalis) to feel uplifted.

Ice Cream Of Roses

Take one pint of cream, two handfuls of fresh rose petals, yolk of two eggs, sugar.

Boil a pint of cream and put into it when it boils two handfuls of fresh rose petals, and leave them for two hours, well covered. Then pass this through a sieve, and mix with the cream the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, and sugar to taste. Add a little cochineal, and put it on the fire, stirring it all the time, but do not let it boil on any account. Put it on ice.

From 'The Gentle Art Of Cookery' by Mrs C.F. Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley first published in 1925.

Jan Greenland is a member of The Herb Society Council. She is an experienced Home Economist, and has taught 'Roman Army' bread at the British Museum and has lectured in America and at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the Museum of Garden History and at various other museums and National Trust Properties.

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