"rose water" news and stories

• Roger Ebert has written a new cookbook -- despite the fact that he hasn't been able to eat a bite in four years.
• Rose water's delicate scent has a powerful impact.
• Sometimes a galley kitchen is really a galley -- as Rendezvous chef Steve Johnson knows.
• Weary of Eastern European Rosh Hashana recipes? This year, taste the New Year by way of Africa.
• Il Matto serves up "food to chuckle over and think about. It is a book of short stories, worth reading."

A rose is a rose, even when it's part of an intensely flavored sorbet with fresh strawberries. This time, it's in a syrup made from rose water, plain water and sugar that blogger Dayna McIssac incorporated into her frosty, fruity dessert. This Epicurious recipe for rose water syrup will help get you started.

Middle Eastern desserts are often flavored with the sweetly floral rose water. You can make your own, which involves simmering rose petals in a covered pot on the stove (I leave this to other, more industrious souls), or you can buy it premade (find a source here). Rose water is also featured in this Persian ice cream recipe from a fellow Slashfood contributors.

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