by Jil Hales
Ah Cécile, let me count the ways ... a prodigious climber, you bloom for weeks proffering delicate pink blossoms that are glorious to behold. Plucked, layered with sugar and left to sit, you make a Proustian infusion that sings of early summer. All year long co*cktails, sparkling drinks and desserts sing your pleasure... Cécile, we love you.
To show it, and In anticipation of re-opening the gardens soon, we’ve been working on a co*cktail with our stash from last year that speaks to this moment. Time Lost is about making it through this and coming out the other side. For us it’s also about a renewed appreciation of the importance of place, and how we share this place with a wonderful community.
You need only roses, white granulated sugar and sterilized jars. Not overly fond of white sugar we have tried unrefined (too heavy) and sugar substitutes like coconut (too flavor forward). The goal here is to render the petals down while leaving their delicate flavor and fragrance intact.
Almost any organic rose can be used though it’s best to look for smaller blossoms as they seem to break down faster, losing less of their scent in maceration.
Our Cécile Brünner grows, or rather engulfs, the outhouse on the ridge, thriving on the weird alchemy up here of intense heat and cooling fog. Don’t have any organic roses on hand? Venture out safely to one of the wonderful flower farms in Sonoma County - they are awash in roses right now. If you are close to Healdsburg all you need to do is head over to Dragonfly Farm.
Directions: Pick the rose buds early in the morning, pluck the petals off, and starting with sugar alternately layer with petals directly into the jar. Compact as you go with a wood mallet - petals, sugar, petals. When you get to the last layer of roses apply constant pressure for a few seconds longer to level the layers before filling to the screw line with sugar. Tighten the lid and refrigerate. Voilà.
It usually takes a month for the petals and sugar to meld into a soft, fragrant, oozing but surprisingly stable texture. So little is needed for a co*cktail that one jar should last you a year. This is a ‘project’ kids love, a great opportunity to work in the garden or backyard with them discussing all the things in life that are sweet and simple. Come the holidays they can celebrate the fruits of their labor - rose sugar is great for no alcohol libations as well.
But hey, if you don’t have kids, don’t have roses, or just don’t want to wait (we are all doing quite enough of that right now) join us in the garden for a Lost Time co*cktail…won’t be long now!
The outhouse on the ridge is the only original fixture from the farmhouse we lost to fire many years ago, It is lovingly referred to as The Church of Poo. With a Dutch door that opens to a big sky often filled with clouds rolling in from the ocean, it’s easy to see why the builders waxed poetic in naming it. No offense intended. Quite the opposite.
