You start by cooking the petals
What flowers should I use?
I first developed this recipe when I wanted to try making rose beads from a friend’s wedding bouquet. But the fact is, you can make these beads anytime, for any celebration, graduation, birth of a baby or grandchild, when you have Valentine’s Day flowers, or just go into your own garden when there are blooming flowers. You can also buy flowers at the store and enjoy them until they begin to get a little tired looking.
How fresh do the flowers have to be?
It is not necessary to use extremely fresh flowers. If your local flower shop has older flowers they are throwing away, then these are fine to use too.
Will other flowers work?
Try any flower in your garden. You will be pleasantly surprised at the results. If you would like to know more about other flowers that work well, click on the link on the right to get on the list to be notified when the e-course comes out.
- Petals from at least 8-12 roses
- Distilled water
- Frying pan - non-stick, or if you want the traditional black beads you should use a traditional black cast iron pan. Grandma's old cast iron chicken fryer works well.
- Blender (critical for smooth, good-looking beads)
- Remove the petals from 8-12 roses. Do not include the ball inside the flower that becomes the rose hip later, and try to knock out all the little round seed-like things from inside the bud before putting the petals in the pot.
- Snip the petals into strips using a sharp scissors and put them in a no-stick or cast iron frying pan.
- Add about ½ to 1 cup water (using distilled water guarantees a purer fragrance) and cook just under the boiling point until the petals get soft.
- Be careful not to let all the water evaporate. Keep watching the pot carefully and add water if necessary, stirring to make sure they cook evenly.
- When the petals are very soft, turn the mixture off and let it cool. They should look a bit translucent, like a cooked vegetable. This is the first step to creating the dough from the petals.