You want to buy your loved one a bouquet of roses for this Valentine’s Day to express your love. Roses look beautiful, they smell beautiful. But for all their beauty, the truth is that some roses – actually, most roses – have dangers that extend far beyond their thorns.
Have you ever wondered how roses can be easily found in every Main Street florist shop across the country — in the dead of winter, when roses don’t grow? The reason for this is that many roses are produced in foreign greenhouses in Europe and South America. In fact, about 650 million roses each year come into the U.S. directly from greenhouses in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador.
Flowers from these areas are most likely grown by poorly paid workers using poisonous pesticides, thus exposing them to immediate and long term health problems. Then there is the huge amount of pollution from planes used to export the flowers across the world.
All these facts seem unworthy of being associated with a gift to your Valentine. You, as the holiday shopper can put the true romance back in the holiday and give a gift that won’t poison your sweetheart or anyone else – organic roses!
You are going to spend the money anyway, right? So why not give your Valentine organic, pesticide free roses? Those nice roses consist of rose petals that she wouldn’t want to discard.
Why?
Because the petals from roses can be used for a variety of different things. Some of these uses are for common everyday tasks, such as beautifying our gardens and walkways, while others are far more unique and distinctive, such as for use in cooking and types of therapy.
As long as your rose petals haven’t been sprayed with pesticide or preservatives, you can use them as a cooking ingredient. This year, why not prepare the most romantic thing you can imagine – rose petal food.
No joke. Here are several levels of involvement to choose from, depending on the amount of effort you usually expend on this holiday for your Valentine.
You may have to read these recipes more than once to wrap your brain around the idea of it, but once get used to it, it seems like a perfectly lovely and altogether reasonable thing to do.
Chilled Pear and Rose Fruit Salad
1 1/2 cups blueberries, rinsed 3 1/2 cups sliced nectarines 1/4 cup rose petals, rinsed and drained 1/4 cup Johnny-jump-ups (stems pinched off), rinsed and drained 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar About 1 1/2 teaspoons rose flower water Salt (optional)
1. Arrange berries and nectarines on a platter; sprinkle flowers over fruit. 2. In a small bowl, mix vinegar with rose flower water to taste. Spoon evenly over salad. Season to taste with salt.
Rose Petal Drink
Petals from 3 full-bloom roses 5 cups water 1/2 tsp. lemon juice 3 tsp. sugar Boil water. Add rose petals and lemon juice to the boiling water, turn off heat and let stand for 6-10 hours. Drain into a pitcher. Discard petals. Add sugar to the rose water and stir. Let cool in the refrigerator or freezer. Serve.
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Yours truly for a great garden with outstanding veggies and flowers.
Polly-organic gardener
