Rose water

Eau de rose

What it is

Around Kashan the harvest lasts only a few weeks from mid-May, and the best golab is distilled twice — do atisheh, two fires — from flowers picked before the sun is up. Rose water from these villages has been sent to wash the Kaaba since the Safavid era.

In the kitchen

Add it at the very end, off the heat and by the half teaspoon: the aroma rides on volatiles that boil away, and a cold cream will take three times more than you expect before it reads. Too much tastes of soap, and nothing fixes it.

Goes with

Pistachio Cardamom Saffron Honey Yogurt Lychee

Same species

Rosehip Dried rosebuds Chinese rose wine

Also used with

Amardine Antep pistachio Basil seed Edible silver leaf Gum tragacanth Mastic

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