Rose Water

Introduced to Europe from Arab cuisine by the Crusaders in such dishes as marzipan and Turkish delight, rose water is the distillate of rose petals, most famously from the damask rose. Substitutes for the distillate have been made by adding attar of roses, which is the oil extracted from crushed roses, to water.

Colonial Americans used rose water as a flavoring, similar in purpose to the later-introduced vanilla, in confectionery and dessert recipes inherited from Europe and in syrups used to flavor beverages. Rose water also flavored savories, such as chicken pies and creamed spinach. Some housewives, even as late as the 1880s, distilled their own. Others purchased it, perhaps as “Double Distilled Damask Rose Water” from the Shakers, a religious sect respected for the quality and purity of their products and for their rose water apple pie.