[Sca-cooks] Roses

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

> Anyway...wondering what roses to use.  I have a lot of store bought roses
> which I have dried, but can I use those to make <sugar of roses> ( delights
> for ladies-hugh platt)


Ack!  No, no no!  The pesticides in store-bought roses are unbelievably
nasty.  Remember, these a) aren't food products, and b) are almost all
imported from South America.  The ones that are imported generally use
pesticides that aren't even approved for non-food crops in the US, let
alone food crops.  And, it's not just the pesticides that are sprayed on
during growing.  Each rose is dipped in a vat of pesticide before
shipping to help prolong it's shelf life.

At best, you should use rose petals from your own garden, or a friends,
that haven't been sprayed.  At worst, if you have a public rose garden
in your community, you can take roses that have been culled when they do
weekly maintenance.  They may involve some yucky pesticides, but
*nothing* like commercial roses.  And your local parks department should
be willing to tell you exactly what they use.

-Magdalena