The particulars
Season
June–July
Picked
At first light, petals only
Tastes of
Turkish delight, raspberry, black tea
Field notes
The roses are an old damask variety, grown for scent rather than for looks, in a walled garden a few miles from the shed. They flower once, in June, for about a month. The bushes are untidy and thorny and nobody would put them in a vase.
Petals are picked at first light, before the sun has warmed the oils out of them, from flowers that opened that morning. By nine the scent has already faded by half. A good picker fills a basket in an hour and smells of it until evening.
We steep the petals fresh, in cold water, for no more than twelve hours; any longer and rose stops being a suggestion and becomes soap. The infusion is strained through muslin and used at two per cent, which is enough. It is there to round the rhubarb, not to announce itself.
