Rose Geranium Syrup

My latest recipe making use of the garden….

A delicious syrup made from the aromatic leaves of rose geraniums. I love my rose geranium and can’t resist giving it a rub whenever I sit near it – I have located it by the garden table so it is always to hand. It smells of turkish delight – and actually the essential oil drawn from it is used to give a rose flavour. This recipe is more simple and quite immediate.

 

This syrup is very sweet and therefore works well with fruit that has a bit of tartness to it like raspberries for example. My Autumn raspberries have just started producing so I married it with them and some meringue.

 

I got this recipe from Gillon Meller from River Cottage

Simply dissolve 200g of caster sugar in 200ml of water in a heavy based saucepan and simmer for a few minutes. Pour this into a kilner jar, add 8 rose geranium leaves and leave to cool & infuse.

These leaves will go brown so replace them with fresh ones when it has cooled down. If stored in the fridge, this syrup will last well. 

I drizzled it over raspberries and left them for an hour. and mixed a little more with some creme fraiche and served it with crushed meringue….delicious yet not too naughty.

My small but fruitful garden keeps giving.

 

 

Flowers from my Dad

In the Pink

All that rhubarb put me in mind to look at pink working in interiors. I am not one for Barbie / bubble gum pink. But I do like tones of pink – like fuchsia pink, blush pink , or a plummy pink – the kind you see in stalks of rhubarb for example..

A dramatic shot of rhubarb pink in the rug…

 

tones of rhubarb pink in the cushions…

 

I look to nature all the time for inspiration especially for colour.

natural pale pink….

 

the same pale pink repeated in a room….

 

Paeonies in blush pink hues….

 

reflected in paint colours….

 

echoed in finishing touches to a room….

 

and in decorative details…..

 

and in this ‘Nerines and Chrysanthemums’ an etching & aquatint with gold leaf by Jean Bardon – from the selection of artworks available through my Creative Service.

 

It is as easy as that to introduce a hint of pink…