Homemade Rose Syrup Recipe In Instant Pot

This homemade rose syrup recipe is a easy and simple syrup recipe made with fresh organic rose petals. Rose syrup has no additives, food coloring or preservatives. You can also use a store brought dried petals to make the rose syrup. Rose syrup can be used to make the popular rose milk drink in parts of South Asia, milk is flavored with rose syrup. Rose milk is a very cooling and soothing quick drink, it can be served both warm or cold. You can also use the rose syrup to enhance your cocktails and mocktails, to sweeten your teas and lattes, or simply drizzle over cakes, crepes and pancakes. Recipe includes detailed recipe instructions with stepwise pictures, making the rose syrup using the Instant Pot, and stove top method given and useful tips.

I started making homemade rose syrup with fresh rose petals from my own rose garden. Our garden is flooded with rose plants ( find below the picture), and during the peak bloom we tend to throw away most of the beautiful flowers in the trash. So I started to use them in my recipes in various different ways. One main recipe which uses a lot of fresh rose petals is the rose syrup, and it is one of my family’s favorite drink. I pretty much use rose syrup for the entire year to make rose milk. I serve rose milk warm during cold winter nights, and serve it cold with lots of ice on hot summer days.

Another great way to use rose petals is to make Gulkand , also known as Gulqand or Gulkhand. Gulkand is a sweet rose petals preserve, also know as rose petals jams / jelly or rose jams. Gul meaning rose, and kand  meaning sugar or sweet. It is an ayurvedic medicine and used in many Indian traditional recipe for skin, constipation, acidity, gastritis, ulcer, Indigestion, stress, etc . Find below how to make Gulkand.

Rose Syrup vs Rose Water

Both the rose syrup and rose water are made with soaking rose petals in water. However,

• Rose syrup is made with added sugar and is, in fact, like a pleasant tasting syrup. Syrup tastes sweet.
• Rose water is made without sugar, and is used for its aroma, rather than its taste. Taste of the rose water is rather bland tasting.

Rose harvesting tips

• Harvest freshly opened red color flowers on a dry and sunny morning, but before the hot midday sun. I find that this is when they are at their most fragrant. Do not pick flowers which are opened for more than a few days, they tend to lose their scent and flavors. Don’t wash the the flowers as drying wet petals will only cause them to turn brown. If they are dirty, only then shake out the flower and wash them carefully and use them right away while they are still fresh.
• Most important thing – you need to make sure the roses haven’t been sprayed with chemicals. If you use chemicals, then the roses are not edible. We do not use any chemical sprays in our garden, so I do not worry about them.
• Simply pluck the petals from the stems, wash if dirty or use it directly in the recipe.

Note – I used only deep red color roses and recommend to use the same red / deep red color roses to make the rose syrup. It will surely help in the natural color of the syrup. The color of the syrup will depends on the roses you choose. Syrup color may vary even with dried red roses vs fresh red rose petals.

How to dry the fresh rose petals and use them later ?

Simply pluck the petals from the stems and spread them out onto a flat surface out of the sun, in a shady place. I prefer to dry them on a big wide basket with lots of air holes, newsprint or paper towel / cloth will also work. Once dried , it will shrink and becomes crispy and dry. May take few days to completely dry depending upon the room temperature.

How to store dried roses?

I keep mine in an glass jar or air tight box or an zip lock will also work. Like all herbs, they should be stored whole and crushed ( when dried it will shrink and naturally become crunchy and dry)  in a jar to maintain their flavor for longer. Keep the jar in a dry place out of the sun.

How to use dried rose petals instead of fresh petals in this recipe?

• In this recipe I have used fresh petals for making the syrup , but you can alternate the same with the dried petals. For the measurements, use the same quantity of dried petals as mentioned in the recipe below for fresh petals. Pressure cook the dried petals with water and follow the recipe through.
• You can also use a store brought dried rose petals to make the rose syrup. They are sold in Amazon online or in other leading grocery chains in online, stores like Walmart, Costco, ext. carry them. Buy red/ pink color dried roses.

Using dried roses in other different ways

• Other ways to use dried rose – you can make rose ice cream, rose flavored cocktails, cakes, and smoothies / milkshakes. They are also good as a garnish in rice pudding, on top of yogurt, or in herbal tea. In many cuisines – savory dishes cooking call for the addition of fragrant rose petals.
• How to make Gulkand – Mix sugar and crush – dried rose petals and keep it in a glass jar under direct sunlight. After a few days, sugar dissolves and mixes with rose petals. You can start consuming the Gulkand. This method is without heating the rose petals. This method helps to preserve nutrients present in the rose petals.
• There are also countless ways to use the dried petals to make skin care, beauty products, and of course there is always old fashioned potpourri too.

How to make rose milk with rose syrup?

• The pictures below is the rose milk – plain milk is flavored with the prepared rose syrup. If serving the milk warm, then warm the milk for few seconds in the microwave, then add two to three teaspoons of the rose syrup to the warm milk, stir well and serve. You could add more syrup to your preferred taste and sweetness.
• You can serve the rose milk cold, a quick and refreshing summer cooler – simply stir in the rose syrup with cold milk , add ice cubes and sugar ( if needed) and serve cold.

Note – This homemade rose syrup will not give as much rose /pink color when mixed with milk. Definitely the color will be much lighter with even two to three teaspoons of rose syrup, because we  do not add food color, and no way you could match up to the store brought rose syrup which uses huge amount of food color. If you’re desperately looking for dark pink color rose milk, then you may add few teaspoons of liquid / gel pink food color to the syrup.

Using the prepared rose syrup in other different way / serving suggestions

• You can make Rose Lassi , a quick summer cooler – add required rose syrup to the fresh plain yogurt, blend well using a mixer, add ice cubes and serve chill.
• Profile picture – Simply add required rose syrup with carbonated water (soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, water with gas) or add it to plain ice cold water , and add ice cubes , freshly cut fruit bits / lemons /fresh mint leaves / dried rose petals (optional) or feel free to add your favorite alcohol or fruit juices, and serve cold during the hot summer days. It is a perfect – refreshing thirst quencher. Tips – You can add pomegranate juice and rose syrup for color, flavor and sweetness.
• Using syrup you can make rose ice cream / Falooda ( layered ice cream), rose flavored cocktails / mocktails, cakes, and smoothies / milkshakes. They are also good as a garnish in rice pudding, on top of yoghurt, to sweeten your teas and lattes, or simply drizzle over cakes, crepes and pancakes.

Storing the prepared rose syrup – suggestions

Rose syrup stays good in the room temperature for up to one month or more, make sure to completely cool down before storing it. Every time when using the syrup , pour the syrup directly into the drink , avoid using a spoon for more shelf life. Store in a clean – dry glass jar / bottles ( highly recommended) , in a cool dry place, away from sunlight. If you refrigerate syrup, it stays good for up to three months.

Other homemade syrup recipe, find below the recipe for homemade pancake syrup – basic recipe to follow. It takes only three minutes to prepare and only three ingredients used. You can customize the syrup to suit your taste.

• Homemade Pancake Syrup Recipe

Find below the accompaniments and condiments recipes from the blog, I have listed few below, for the complete list of recipe check the link here – Accompaniments And Condiments

• Saravana Bhavan Tomato Chutney Instant Pot
• Mango – Radish And Jalapeno Salsa
• Cream Of Pistachio Nut | Spread
• Homemade Hoisin Sauce Recipe
• Onion Tomato Raita

How to make rose syrup using stove top method ? ( for Instant pot version please scroll down)

• All ingredients and measurements remain the same as given in the recipe card ( find below)
• Boil the mentioned quantity of water, and add the boiling water to the rose petals , stir well, let the mixture cool down. Refrigerate the mixture overnight . Using a strainer,  strain the rose water separately from the rose petals, press the rose petals nicely to extract all the flavor and color into the water. ( Optional – You can use the extracted rose petals with required sugar, stir and store it in the refrigerator and use as rose preserves, this is called Gulkand ).
• Now transfer the extracted rose water into a pot and add white and brown sugar , stir well. Now turn on the flame and heat the pot in medium – high flame and bring it a boil ( you will notice the mixture frothing up), continue to boil for one more minute, then switch off the flame. Remove pot from heat to stop further cooking.
• Rose syrup will thicken after it cools down.
• Cool down the rose syrup completely before using it or storing it .

Stepwise pictures of how to make the rose syrup using the Instant Pot

Ingredients required – Fresh red rose petals , water, brown sugar and white granulated sugar.

Pressure Cooking

I used Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8 Quart for pressure cooking. Place the inner pot into the Instant Pot. Add mentioned amount of water , rose petals, and stir. Close the LID of the Instant Pot .

Press the PRESSURE COOK mode on HIGH power, and SET CUSTOM time to “FIVE” minutes. SEAL the Pressure Valve ( this model IP automatically seals the vent). Switch off the KEEP WARM MODE ( light should not be on in the keep warm mode). Now press START. After the pressure cooking is done. Press CANCEL . Then do QPR (quick pressure release) by moving quick release switch from SEAL TO VENT to release any remaining pressure.

Sauté using Instant pot

After the steam is released, open the lid of the Instant Pot. Now strain the pressure cooked rose with water using a strainer, place a bowl underneath to collect the strained rose water. Press the roses nicely to remove all the flavor and color into the water. Be cautioned – rose water may be very hot depending on how soon you are straining it. ( discard the rose petals or make gulkand – see notes below).

Add the strained rose water back into the inner pot , add brown and white sugar and stir well.

Then press SAUTE mode on HIGH power. In CUSTOM settings, SET Timer for FIVE minutes. Now Press START, let the mixture come to a boil ( you’ll notice the mixture frothing up), and continue to boil for ONE MORE MINUTE ONLY ( when it starts to boil, set external timer for one minute , don’t wait for the instant pot timer, sometimes sauté timer after pressure cooking doesn’t work). Press CANCEL, remove the inner pot from the instant pot to stop further cooking.

Let the rose syrup completely cool down before transferring it to a glass bottle or storing it. Syrup thickens after it cools down. Add the rose syrup to your preferred drinks / desserts and enjoy.