Make your own rose vinegar at this time of the year

Now is the time of year to create a fragrant vinegar for salad dressings from those luscious flowers: roses. 

Collect the rose petals, preferably deeply scented that have not been sprayed (like the rose here, which is climbing the wall of the West Wing offices at Sharpham).

Gently wash the petals under cold water and leave somewhere warm to dry. Put the dried petals into a sterilised jar and cover with 4 times the amount of good vinegar. Seal the jar and leave for a month before straining and then using as a delicious, fragrant salad dressing - including on the recipe below!

Cucumber & rose salad - ingredients 

• 4 cucumbers
• 1 tablespoon rose or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tsp agave syrup
• 1 tablespoon rose petals

Cucumber & rose salad - method

• Peel the cucumbers, the use a peeler to gently peel all the way down the cucumber keeping it turning so that you have long ribbons
• Once you come to the watery seeded centre, finely slice.
• Mix the ingredients for the dressing with some seasoning and toss the cucumber in it.
• Leave for half an hour, then drain and serve sprinkled with the rose petals.

Buy the Sharpham House cookbook online here

Pictures by Jon Howell