Balance the musky and floral aroma of rose with peppery-citrus cardamom to make this sweet, delicate and luxuriously delicious Cardamom Rose Simple Syrup. Use to flavor cocktails, sodas, lattes and more!
Cardamom and rose truly are an aromatic match made in heaven! The combined result creates an absolutely intoxicating and versatile syrup with a delicate rose flavor. Enjoy in drinks like this, brushed over fresh baked goods or mixed into salad dressings.
Cardamom Rose Syrup Ingredients
- Cardamom: Gently bash in a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin. The goal is to break open the pods before toasting to access the inner seeds for a stronger flavor.
- Dried Rose Petals: Make sure to use culinary grade rose flower petals or rose blossoms. Look for the edible flowers you would use to make tea. Both rose petals and rose buds work.
- Sweetener: Feel free to use white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup or honey.
- FYI: Keep in mind that darker colored sugars and sweeteners will also darken the color of your syrup. For a light pink color, stick to white sugar. If you want to use a natural sweetener like honey you may want to consider adding hibiscus, beet root powder or food coloring of some kind.
- Lemon Juice (optional): Fresh lemon juice after simmering really helps to brighten things up. If you prefer a muskier flavor, leave it out.
- Hibiscus (to enhance color – optional): If you really want to punch up the color vibrancy, add hibiscus to create a more vibrant, red color like in the images below. You can use hibiscus tea bags or loose leaf. Hibiscus is tart and tangy. I personally think its flavor works well with rose & cardamom, but you might not agree. It’s all preference!
How to Make It
Altogether this is a super easy recipe! It’s a little more involved than a basic simple syrup with the added florals and herbs, but it’s still not complicated at all. It’s mostly just a matter of heating and steeping before you’re all set.
Step 1: Gently bash cardamom pods to open up the pods.
Step 2: Toast for 2-3 minutes over a medium-low heat or until fragrant.
Step 3: Add water, sugar and rose petals.
Step 4: Dissolve sugar and simmer, uncovered about 15 minutes.
Step 5: Turn off the heat, cover and steep 1 hour (at least).
Step 6: Strain out the solids through a fine-mesh strainer & store.
Use a Natural Sweetener
Instead of sugar, use honey or pure maple syrup!
Just make sure to wait to add the honey after you’ve simmered the rose water so you don’t cook out all the healthy enzymes! Just stir it in after switching off the heat, then cover and let steep.
What to Make with this Rose Petal Syrup
- Flavor Drinks: Sweeten and flavor all kind of different hot and cold drinks like cocktails, non-alcoholic drinks, smoothies, lemonade, iced tea, iced coffee and hot lattes!
- Brush over Baked Goods: Infuse a bit more flavor and moisture into cake layers and baked goods by brushing the outsides while they’re still warm and fresh out of the oven. Think lemon loaves, sponge cakes and muffins!
- Ice Cream or Yoghurt: Pour a spoonful of rose syrup over vanilla ice cream and add some fresh fruit. You can also mix it into greek yoghurt or in a parfait.
- Dressings & Vinaigrette: Swap out sugar, honey, maple with a little rose syrup to balance out the sharp, acidic flavors. You can even use it on its own, drizzled over a summer fruit salad!
Make this Sparkling Cardamom Rose Mocktail next: Fill a glass with ice cubes, add 1-2 tablespoons of the rose syrup then top up with soda water for an easy, healthy and refreshing rose flavored mocktail!
More Drink Recipes You Might Like
- Ginger Switchel Recipe (Haymaker’s Punch)
- Lavender Lemonade (Naturally Sweetened)
- London Fog Recipe
- Ginger Turmeric Tea with Lime
- Strawberry Kiwi Gin & Tonic
Other homemade simple syrups you might want to check out: Honey Simple Syrup & Homemade Grenadine Syrup.
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Homemade Rose Simple Syrup recipe! I’d love to hear what you made with it and how it turned out! Please leave a comment and review with your thoughts and suggestions for me and future readers.
Cardamom Rose Simple Syrup
Balance the musky and floral flavor of rose with citrusy cardamom to make this sweet, delicate and luxuriously delicious simple syrup.
Ingredients
- 20 cardamom pods or about 1 1/2 tsp
- 1 cup water (240ml)
- 3/4 cup white sugar (150g)
- 1/4 cup rose petals, ensure food grade/edible petals
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, optional (15ml)
Instructions
- Gently bash the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle to open up. Place in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Toast 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Add water, sugar and rose petals, to the pot. Simmer, uncovered over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice (if using). Cover and leave on the heat (burner turned off) at for at least an hour while it cools to room temperature. The longer you let everything steep, the stronger the flavor.
- Place a fine-mesh strainer over a small bowl or jar then pour the syrup through to sieve to stain out the cardamom and flower pieces.
- Transfer to an airtight container or jar and keep stored in the fridge until ready to use up to 1 month.
Notes
- Make it honey or maple syrup: Wait until after you turn off the heat to stir in 1/2 cup maple or honey.
- Add color: 1/2 tsp dried hibiscus flowers- loose leaf tea or from tea bag to the pot along with the rose petals. Beet root powder also works.
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