Leena Gerjis, one of the producers at Souk el-Tayeb, specializes in mouneh items; mouneh being all the foodstuffs preserved for the winter season, such as pickles, syrups, jams, etc; I visited her this past Sunday in her home in Ehden, a rustic mountain village house surrounded by a vegetable garden and orchard at about 3500 feet.
I could not resist getting a few bottles of her homemade, organic, syrups; rose water syrup was one of them, made from a variety of rose known as wared jooreh or Rosa Damascena; she added no artificial anything to her syrup and the taste is tender and sweet as can be.
Now, rose water syrup is available in the US and elsewhere, made commercially and colored a very kitschy pink; the taste of course does not compare, not even by a mile!
To make the drink, it is simply a matter of adding fresh water to one ounce of syrup.
This is a view from our deck in our village of Deir el-Kamar; the temperature hovers around 70F in the evenings and the fog swirls around the mountains and valleys.
NOTE: To find out how to make your own rose water, click here.
18 Comments
I love rosewater in rice pudding, so I bet I’d enjoy this drink, especially if made with the preservative- and coloring-free syrup.
Interesting drink, never tried yet..
This is so beautiful and fairytale-ish.
Like a drink out of a wonderful story. Reminds me of a elderflower water/juice my rellies made for me in Denmark. Delicious!
Simple and cool!
I remember delighting in fried sardines when we were in Portugal. Sheer heaven!
And I love the refreshing simplicity of your rose water drink.. I will look into making my own! Gorgeous view of your village, Joumana. It’s such fun traveling with you to place I am certain I will never see!
Je n’ai encore jamais essayé. Il va falloir que je le fasse.
A bientôt.
amazingly beautiful pics…Rose water drink looks so refreshing…
Hey dear,
Are you back from Beirut or still blogging from there? If its the latter, you are one dedicated blogger.
I always wanted to a know how to make rose water at home. This drink looks nice.
One of my favorite ingredients is my buddy rose water, makes the smell of the drink all that better. and connects you to it. There is a tea house here in L.A. where they serve a very refreshing pink lemonade with rose water syrup, you get that aroma from the drink, and it looks so pretty. Joumana this drink would be excellent to sit out on your deck enjoy the beautiful view, and drink it on a summer day.
It took me a while to take to the flavour of rose water and sadly it still reminds me of detergent. I am getting better though! That view from the deck is stunning!
Beautiful!
And I agree that commercial rose water has got nothing on the real, homemade stuff. I’m definitely going to use your recipe to try and make my own.
how elegant and lovely. it makes my mug of coffee look downright gross.
I’ve used commercially prepared rosewater in the past, but can imagine how much better yours is in a lovely summmer drink.
Wonderful photos, too.
Joumana, BTW Armenian grandmothers make an excellent rose petal jam all natural, they gather the fragrant rose petals one by one, the aroma, the texture, and taste is out of this world, it keeps it’s pink color and it’s great over ice cream, and puddings also nice on toast for breakfast.
Most very good Lebanese pastries…at least the ones here in Montreal…use lots of rose water…however, for some reason it does not feel as overwhelming as the one from the store.
If you could make me an orange water drink…I’d be slightly more enthused.
However, I do admit…that just maybe…the homemade rose water could probably change my mind ;o)
Beautiful photos. BTW…one of my middle names is Rosa given to me by my ‘Nonna’ Rosa ;o)
Flavourful rosy wishes,
Claudia
je découvre cette version et je dois la tester!! merci
I love rosewater and this drink just sounds so refreshing and special. I cannot wait to try it. Hope you are having a wonderful trip.
This sounds so out of the world – in the land of kings and queens. I would love to have some. We use a lot of rose water in desserts, but never made my own at home.