Strawberry & Rose Heart Pie

Around this time of year, I love to put the focus on roses.  It isn’t the season for growing roses, but it is the time when I most use the roses that I have preserved from the summer’s harvest.  In particular, I love to make rose water (or rose hydrosol) from dried rose buds and petals.  Most often, I use it as a toner as it is really cooling, refreshing and tightening.  I often combine the rose hydrosol with our Healing Flowers Oil for a soothing morning and evening skincare treatment. 

In addition to making skincare products, I love to bake and I recently found a recipe for a pie that combines strawberries, cardamom and rose water.  Rose water does not have much nutritional benefit when combined in recipes, despite how beneficial it can be when applied topically to the skin; however, when added to recipes, rose water can lend a fun, aromatic essence that anyone who loves roses would appreciate.

This weekend, I made an amazing Strawberry, Cardamom and Rose Pie. I call it Strawberry & Rose Heart Pie because I bake it in my heart pie dish.  I cannot take credit for the recipe, but you can find it here.  It is delicious and it is a great pie to make around this season because I feel like the rose is truly the flower of the heart.  Ayurvedic philosophy provides that the rose balances Sadhaka pitta, which controls feelings and its effects on the heart.  That could be one of the reasons why roses are often associated with Valentine’s Day. I’m sure there are other reasons also as to why that holiday and the rose are associated with one another, but I love Ayurveda so I’m giving it the credit. =)

If you aren’t making your own rose water, there are great culinary grade rose waters that you can use both in recipes and on your skin.  It just may take some researching.  =)