A week or two ago, I wandered into a European deli to peruse the foodstuffs, all with labels I couldn’t read. I didn’t care. It was fun to look at the foods and try to figure out what they were without benefit of, y’know, words. (Try it some time, and think about what it must be like to be an immigrant who speaks no English. Double points if you are trying to figure out which medication to buy… ) After my round of “guess what that is”, I ended up buying some fresh farmer’s cheese pierogis, a chocolate bar filled with crystallized honey (NOM!), and a green glass bottle with a picture of a rose on it. I assumed, and it turned out correctly, that it was rose flavored soda of some sort. I would have been more certain about the contents if the bottle next to it hadn’t had a picture of grass on it. Found out later that buffalo grass is apparently a popular flavor. Okay.
Now let’s be clear here. I don’t generally like soda pop. Fizzy drinks containing lots of sugar give me stomach aches. I don’t do HFCS if I can help it, and I don’t do artificial sweeteners of any kind. Lets out most sodas except for some flavored soda waters, and frankly, I prefer still water to fizzy water anyway, so I might as well just stick to my iced or hot tea, or water. Except for this lovely, lovely rose soda. I’ve been obsessing about it ever since I tasted it. I have a weakness for things flavored with rosewater, like Shrewsbury cakes and Turkish Delight. But the rose soda is over $2 a bottle, and honestly, I can’t tell what’s in it, since I can’t read the label. So yesterday, I bought a bottle of plain sparkling water and commenced to experiment.
Rose Petal Fizzy Water
- 3 capfuls of rosewater (distilled rose petals and water, nothing else. Make your own or buy in a Middle Eastern deli, about $4.50 a bottle.)
- 1-2 Tbls of honey, depending on taste. One is plenty for me.
- 16 oz of fizzy water, brand of your choice. Unflavored, unsweetened.
Put the honey in a glass, add the rosewater, and add about 1/3 of a glass of the fizzy water. Stir well. This will make the fizzy water in the glass go a little bit flat, but it’s enough liquid to dissolve the honey. Top off with the rest of the fizzy water, and add ice if desired. Drink.
Not only does this have no HFCS and nothing artificial, if you use raw honey it has enzymes and trace minerals. Don’t overdo it, though, as honey still has about 60 calories a tablespoon. The rosewater and fizzy water are calorie free. Would be excellent on a hot day, though I’m not waiting for hot weather to drink some!
