I sorta just made this up the other day when I realized it was frozé weather but I had a nice bottle of Rioja open and I didn't want to waste it. 

You need: 

• a 750 ml bottle of red wine (mine wasn't entirely full, but it worked anyway!)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup frozen fruit of your choice- I recommend strawberry and pineapple
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon
• handful of fresh rose petals for extra love

Blend this all in a high-powered blender. Add it to an ice cream maker and turn it on! If you don't have an ice cream maker, add the blended concoction to a ziplock bag, freeze overnight, and blend again right before enjoying!

It's no secret to anyone following me on Instagram, that I'm a lover of flowers. But of all flowers, Rose is queen! I'm grateful to live in Portland- the Rose City. And I'm even more grateful to live in a house that bursts with the most fragrant antique roses I've ever seen. Roses have a lot of medicinal uses- both energetically and for the skin. So, many of my products are made with Rose. From cradle to grave, Rose brings hope, trust, self-love, self acceptance, and is downright stress-relieving and magical. I'm sure anyone knows this intuitively when catching a whiff of a fresh rose bloom. Last summer I experimented with using roses in my kitchen, and this year since I have a blog, I'm sharing some of the recipes that I've enjoyed, with you. 

Rose Water 

Can be used as a base for Rose Lemonade, cocktails, or even the base for a smoothie! 

• 5-7 Fresh Fragrant Roses (best harvested in the early morning and processed right away)
• Distilled Water 
• Big Pot

This is pretty simple and basic. Just remove all the fresh petals, add them to the pot, and then cover the petals with distilled water. Cover the pot, and heat over a medium heat until it simmers lightly (don't bring to a full boil, and let it simmer lightly on low for 30 min. Cool, strain water into a jar. 

Rose Cashew Ice Cream

I enjoyed this- it's pretty rich, but definitely yummy and floral. It's nice to know that a dairy free ice cream can turn out so well. 

• 1.5 cups Raw Cashews
• 3 cups Water
• 1 cup Organic Cane Sugar
• 3 tablespoons of Rose Water (recipe above)
• Petals of 2 large fragrant roses, and some extra for garnish

First make the cashew mylk by soaking the cashews for 4-8 hours. Strain out the cashews and them to your high speed blender with 3 cups of water, blend on high for a couple of minutes. Strain the mylk in a nut mylk bag, and massage all the mylk/cream into a jar. You'll notice that the cashew mylk is more creamy than other nut mylks, but squeeze as much of it out as you can. I think this is why the ice cream comes out as good as it does! 

Now add the cashew mylk/cream back to the blender along with the sugar, rose water, and rose petals, blend it all together, and move the concoction to a small pot. Heat over a medium flame, stirring the whole time until you notice it thickening and heated. Again, don't boil! Remove the pot, let the mixture cool, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours to a day. When thoroughly chilled, process in your ice cream maker! Scoop and serve right away. Garnish with some fresh rose petals if you'd like, and enjoy!

Leftovers can be added to your morning smoothie. I really liked layering blended Rose Cashew Mylk Ice Cream on top of a coffee/cacao/maca/ashwagandha smoothie. 

Rose Petal Sorbet

This is my favorite recipe so far!

• 5 large fragrant Roses
• 1 cup of Simple Syrup
• 1/2 cup of Rosé (I haven't tried it, but I bet it would be fine with Rose Water instead)
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 Egg White

You can make simple syrup by heating 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water until all sugar is dissolved. Cool this syrup before use. Gather the petals from the roses, add to blender along with the rosé and lemon juice.

Blend on high till petals are blended up, strain into a jar with the cooled simple syrup. Shake together and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or more. Now's the fun part! Beat the egg white until it's "stiff." It took quite a lot of whisking to get the egg white to that point, but it was kinda cool.

Fold the stiff egg white into the chilled mixture. Add the mixture to the ice cream maker! If you don't have an ice cream maker you can use a shallow container that goes in the freezer, and just turn the frozen sides in a few times during the freezing process. (I've only done it with an ice cream maker, and it turned out a perfect consistency!). 

Douglas Fir is one of the most ubiquitous trees in our region here in the Pacific Northwest. They're everywhere, tall and stately, decorating our landscape with sheltering, aromatic, silhouettes. Traditionally, the Doug Fir tree was used in communities of Cascadia for many things including building structures & canoes, using the pitch as skin medicine, and even drinking tonics made from the leaves and bark for colds, coughs, and kidney/bladder ailments. But the way I came to learn about Doug Fir was via its bright green spring tips. I was taught that these tips were like nature's gatorade, and if you're ever lost in the woods, you can chew on these tips for for hydration and energy. They quench thirst and hunger, and have a pleasant lemony-piney sweet flavor. You can make Sun Tea with the tips to make a truly delicious, hydrating treat. 

This year, I decided to play with Doug Fir more than I have in the past, and see what kind of treats I could come up with! I made Doug Fir infused vodka to use in cocktails, a Doug Fir simple syrup that I turned into sorbet, and am drying lots of tips to save for tea! 

Harvesting Doug Fir Tips: while there is a bounty of tips to be found in this region, always make sure you don't take too many from one tree, because these tips are the tree's spring growth, so when we forage the tips, we're pruning the tree! So take your time gathering from a bunch of different trees so as no to leave one too bare. 

Infusions

Anywhere from 1 cup to 3 handfuls of tips work well for each 750 ml. of water or vodka. Some people like to blend up the tips so that there's more surface area, but I have found them just fine without. If you're making Sun Tea, add the tips and water to a clean jar and let it do its thing in the sun for a couple of days. If you're infusing vodka, do the same thing, but keep it in a darker cooler place for a few days (I usually do somewhere between 2-4 days). After the infusion time, simply strain out the solid plant material and enjoy it on its own or mixed in drinks. 

Basic Lemonade (to use in Doug Fir Cocktails!): 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups of water to dilute

Method: on the stove top let the sugar and water come to a boil, once the sugar has dissolved, allow this syrup to cool completely. Once cooled, mix the lemon juice, 3/4 cup-1 cup syrup, and 3 cups of water. Stir/shake well. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon, or use the lemonade to make a Doug Fir Cocktail! Or honestly, if you want to take a shortcut, you can totally replace the 3 cups of water with pre-made Doug Fir Sun Tea or Doug Fir Vodka, and not even make the cocktail that I list below. I'm sure Doug Fir Basic Lemonade on its own is great, too!

Doug Fir Cocktail/Mocktail

• 1.5 oz. Doug Fir infused Vodka (or Doug Fir Sun Tea)
• 3 oz. of the basic lemonade as outlined above
• 1 dropper of Roots & Crowns Forest Bitters
• pretty ice cubes and/or Doug Fir tips for garnish

Make this in your shaker with any old ice, pour over pretty ice cubes in your favorite glass, and garnish with either a slice of lemon or a Doug Fir tip! ENJOY! This is seriously such a refreshing treat for warm afternoons. 

Doug Fir Sorbet

• 3 cups fresh Doug Fir tips
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar or honey
• 3 tsp. fresh lime juice
• garnishes like chocolate, flowers, or more tips

Bring the tips, water, & sweetener to a light boil. Turn off the flame, cover, and let steep for about half an hour. Remove solids, add the lime juice, mix well, and pour into your ice cream maker! Sorbets take a little longer to solidify in the machine than ice creams do, but my goodness what a simple process. I'm glad I splurged on an ice cream maker in time for sorbet/ice cream season! I got this one. (Yes, in millennial pink! :)) You can use the sorbet kinda soft right out of the machine or let it harden in the freezer. This recipe makes a good quart+ so you can keep some for later on! I also loved adding a scoop of Doug Fir Sorbet to my champagne. It looks beautiful and tastes divine! 

I hope you enjoyed this post and share it will anyone who would have fun with it, too! Tag @rootsandcrownspdx on any photos you post of your creations that were inspired by this! 

Special thanks to herbalist Elise Krohn for first turning me onto these conifer tips, and for inspiring some of these recipes!