An easy and delicious tea can be made out of rosebuds. Petals work too, but rosebuds are sturdier and less likely to get crushed during transport. I have read that you can use any kind of rosebuds and petals, organic ideally, but Dog Roses are often used for edible and medicinal purposes. They grow wild in many regions, and they have a certain wild rose taste that is different than the roses more commonly cultivated in people's gardens. I collect mine from wild dog woods that bramble around my neighborhood.It's incredibly easy to make rosebud tea. Pour very hot water on them and let it sit for a few minutes, strain the fragrant water into a cup, and add a little bit of your preferred sweetener. Then drink your divine concoction and enjoy a gentle mood lift along with the sweet flavor. A muscular macho friend of my husband's was visiting when I made the pictured cup of tea, and he thinks I'm weird anyways, so it was with amusement that I prepared this in front of him. I offered him a cup; at first he scowled at the idea of drinking flower petals, but he admitted after drinking it up that it was surprisingly delicious, not at all what he had expected. I assume using more commonly cultivated roses for this would result in a rosier kind of flavor, dog roses really do have a special scent and flavour of their own. Many herbalists and old world Europeans make rosehip tea, which is very high in antioxidants and vitamin C. Rosehips sit there for our picking throughout the late fall and winter, just when we need the vitamin C the most.
Beyond just nutritional benefits, there are known medicinal benefits inherent in roses. They are nervines that can calm depression and stress, either by ingestion, or even by smell alone. Apparently they are good for asthma, by inhaling the essential oil vapors . At the time of this writing a Wiki has this interesting bit of lore that is new to me:
"Rosa Canina was dried and then smoked with tobacco to produce mild hallucinogenic effects and abnormal dreams." For further info by a couple of really good herbalist bloggers on roses and their uses, visit Gaia's Gifts and A Medicine Woman's Roots. Roses have been used for culinary, cosmetic and medicinal purposes in India and surrounding regions for centuries. Many scrumptious Indian and Mediterranean sweets are prepared with rosewater, and rosewater beauty products are abundant in many ethnic stores. I once bought Jasmine and rosebud tea in Chinatown primarily because of the beautifully designed tin that contained it, but the taste of that tea was astonishingly delicious.
Next time you pass some wild rose bushes, take a few petals or buds, or hips, (never all of the buds or flowers from one plant) and bring them home to try for yourself. Your body, your mind, and your taste buds will thank you. And it is safe for children as well, unless smoked of course.
