Flower waters

As I start this blog, I have a mug of hot chocolate like no other.  There are always bottles of orange flower water and rose water in the cupboard that get splashed into all sorts of things but one of the best is a capful in hot chocolate.  Rose water turns it into liquid Turkish Delight and orange blossom seems to lift the spirits and bring much cheer.  Cunning.

But the uses of flower waters are many.  Here are a few of them;

Put it in a spray bottle- a big one to spray onto bed linen as it dries and a small one, kept in the fridge, to spritz on your face in hot weather.

Rose water as a facial toner.  Cheap and does the job better than many commercial and chemical ones.

Even in a chocolate cake- same effect as in hot chocolate!

Orange blossom water is great in salad dressings for fennel, radish, beetroot etc.

You can find these waters in supermarkets in the cooking aisle but they are very expensive and not very good.  The place to get them is any middle eastern/Asian local store and they are not much more than £1 a bottle and last for ages.

TIP: when using in cooking, be careful not to use too much as it can be very overpowering. Less is more!