This Middle Eastern Fresh Rose Syrup is great in coffee, on desserts, and in sodas, and takes just 5 minutes of active work to make homemade rose simple syrup. It's common in Indian and Pakistani, as well as some Italian, French, and Mediterreanean dishes I've come across.
Try it in my virgin Moscow Mule or mixed into some homemade chia & flax pudding.
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✔️ Why this recipe is great
In-Season Produce: since roses are in season from around May to October, here it's the tail end of rose season. So if you have any fresh organic roses in your area that you want to use before they're gone, this rose syrup recipe is perfect for literally preserving their essence.
Long-Lasting: this rose simple syrup recipe makes about ⅔ cup of syrup plus some very rose jelly-like candied rose petals that - just like with my blackberry syrup - would be great blended up and slathered over waffles or toast with a smear of cream cheese.
Quick Warning (!!!): whatever rose you use, be sure that the flower or the petals are pesticide-free, because everything you put into the pot will end up in your final syrup, including any chemicals that were on the flowers (or bugs, for that matter).
🌹 Ingredients
Sugar: you can really use any granulated sweetener that's a 1-to-1 swap for white cane sugar, but here I use an allulose & monk fruit blend and used regular sugar to make this long ago.
Water: this helps to make this homemade rose coffee syrup liquid enough to pour.
Rose Petals: you can use either half a cup of dried rose petals or one cup of fresh rose petals (see the substitute notes for more info).
Hibiscus: optionally you can add up to a half tablespoon (1 ½ teaspoons) of hibiscus flowers to color your rose syrup without noticeably making it too sour. I only added a pick (⅛ teaspoon) to the batch photographed here.
📋 How to make rose syrup: step-by-step instructions
Step 1. Heat the water and sweetener in a metal-bottom pan until just simmering, then lightly stir the water until everything dissolves.
Step 2. Meanwhile, measure your dried rose petals or carefully wash and pull off the petals from your fresh flowers, if making rose simple syrup from fresh rose petals. If using dried flowers, pull off only the dried petals before measuring the half cup.
*Tip*: if using little tiny dried roses from the Middle Eastern market or online, it may take you as long as a half hour to carefully pull off a full half cup of rose petals.
Watch out for brown centers and dried plant detritus from the center of the flowers. Next time I make this, I'll be using fresh rose petals again. Either way, make sure to use food-grade roses!
Step 3. Once your sugar water is back to simmering, add the rose petals and hibscus (if using), and stir everything together until each petal is wet. If only using rose water, don't add it until the syrup has cooled totally off the heat for 10 minutes.
Step 4. Heat the rose simple syrup mixture on low for 7-8 minutes (set a timer), never letting it get above a simmer, stirring only if the petals start to all rise to the top. The petals will mostly turn a light brown and lose their pink.
Step 5. When your timer goes off, remove the mixture from the heat and let it sit on a cool burner for 20 more minutes (to infuse further). This is when you should add the vanilla, if using, and set a timer for 10 minutes to add the rose water (if using).
Step 6. Finally, once your timer goes off, strain the mixture and preserve your rose simple syrup in a closed container in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
⭐ Substitutions and variations
Rose Flavoring: you can use either 2 Tablespoons of high-quality rose water for rose water syrup, or 1 Cup of fresh rose petals (lightly packed) or the ½ Cup of dried rose petals shown in the recipe card below. Just know that if you're only using rose water your rose syrup will be markedly thinner.
Sweetener: while you can use almost any granulated sweetener in this recipe, I made it long ago with regular sugar and more recently with allulose-monk fruit sweetener, a sugar-free FDA-approved sweetener that's a direct swap for sugar.
- Honey Rose Syrup - using an equal amount of honey in place of the sugar would add a caramel sweetness to the rose syrup, while also making an even thicker rose syrup, which you won't think is possible if you make it first with regular sugar.
- Vanilla Rose Syrup - you can create more complexity by adding either one whole split vanilla pod, the vanilla seeds from one pod, or ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste to the infusion when you add the rose petals. Alternately, adding ½ teaspoon high-quality vanilla extract right after filtering out the petals would make a delicious rose vanilla syrup.
- Rose Cream - mix equal parts heavy cream and homemade rose syrup for a condensed rose milk syrup that stays good in the fridge for up to 5 days if kept airtight. I've only tried this with high quality organic dairy cream, and it taste great when you've made the rose syrup with honey.
See the lavender version of this recipe on my website!
🥶 Storage and freezing
Store any unused dried rose petals in a dry zip lock bag for up to 2 more months, if freshly-opened, or fresh rose petals in a zip lock bag in the fridge for up to 3 more days.
Fresh rose simple syrup will stay good in the fridge for up to 7 days, but will stay good frozen for 6+ months without losing any flavor (if stored in an air-tight bottle).
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Enhanced Rose Flavor: I find the strength of this rose syrup to be ideal as written, but if your syrup isn't as fragrant as you prefer, you can add a teaspoon of high-quality rose water.
But be sure to only add it to your mostly-cooled rose syrup to add depth and a more 'typical' rose flavor to the syrup, depending on the type of rose petals you use.
For a Red Color: to add a bright pink color to your rose simple syrup, add 1 to ½ teaspoon of dried hibiscus flowers or one whole fresh hibiscus flower to the syrup after you've taken it off the heat.
I only added a pinch this time and it only added a bit of color, but if you add this much when you add the rose petals, it will likely over-infuse and make everything bitter and a bit sour.
To Use Fresh Roses: if making rose syrup with fresh rose petals, make sure that the rose you use is very fragrant and has the hue you want in your syrup. For example, a white rose that smells amazing will make a very aromatic syrup, but it will be clear rather than a rosy pink.
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
High quality rose syrup is made from fresh rose petals, sugar, and water.
Rose water is a much more concentrated rose flavor, best used in drops rather than spoonfuls. But rose syrup is an aromatic, sweet syrup with a much lighter impact, better for both flavoring and sweetening at the same time.
You can drizzle it over ice cream or into coffee, stir it into rice pudding or a homemade soda, or even use it to make aromatic candied nuts or almond cake.
It tastes like the scent of a rose with sweetness, perfect for soaking into cakes.
Yes, you should refrigerate or freeze fresh rose syrup once it's fully cooled, or else it may start to crystallize and become harder to use.
😋 Other easy simple syrups
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
❓ What to do with rose syrup
- Swap it for the lavender syrup in my floral blueberry mocktail
- Use it to soak an almond flour cake
- Add 1-2 teaspoons to your morning latte
- Flavor your favorite mousse or custard
- Drizzle it with your favorite fruit onto some vanilla flax pudding
- Mix some into cream that you drizzle onto fruit salad
- Thin some out with selzer water to create a homemade rose soda
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Rose Syrup (From Rose Petals or Rose Water)
Ingredients
- 1 Cup sugar alt. granulated sweetener
- ¾ Cup water
- ½ Cup dried rose petals or 1 Cup fresh rose petals see notes
- pinch of hibiscus optional, for color
Instructions
- Heat the water and sweetener in a metal-bottom pan until just simmering, then lightly stir the water until everything dissolves.
- Meanwhile, measure your dried rose petals or carefully wash and pull off the petals from your fresh flowers, if making rose simple syrup from fresh rose petals. If using dried flowers, pull off only the dried petals before measuring the half cup.If using little tiny dried roses from the Middle Eastern market or online, it may take you as long as a half hour to carefully pull off a full half cup of rose petals. Watch out for brown centers and dried plant detritus from the center of the flowers. Next time I make this, I'll be using fresh rose petals again. Either way, make sure to use food-grade roses!
- Once your sugar water is back to simmering, add the rose petals and hibscus (if using), and stir everything together until each petal is wet. If only using rose water, don't add it until the syrup has cooled totally off the heat for 10 minutes.
- Heat the rose simple syrup mixture on low for 7-8 minutes (set a timer), never letting it get above a simmer, stirring only if the petals start to all rise to the top. The petals will mostly turn a light brown and lose their pink.
- When your timer goes off, remove the mixture from the heat and let it sit on a cool burner for 20 more minutes (to infuse further). This is when you should add the vanilla, if using, and set a timer for 10 minutes to add the rose water (if using).
- Finally, once your timer goes off, strain the mixture and preserve your rose simple syrup in a closed container in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
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