Roses and food are my new special interest. Rose water in cakes, rose candy, rose flavoured ice cream, it’s everywhere if you have an eye for it. On top of the Rose list at the moment is Rose Liqueur. I love a splash of rose liqueur in a glass of prosecco with added rose petals if you can find them. Not too much, just the right amount, so the delicate perfume can tickle your senses. The liqueur of choice is and was the one made by Dutch distiller A. van Wees in Amsterdam (Van Wees is also called ‘De Ooievaar’ and the rose liqueur is called ‘Roosje zonder doornen’, which means little rose without thorns), which only produces liqueurs based on 100 % natural ingredients (so called ‘esprits’).

Yesterday Ed went to a store in Amsterdam called ‘Ton Overmars’ which has a vast selection of whiskeys and a lot of other interesting stuff in bottles like vintage ports and an impressive amount of Absinthe. Ed surprised me with the bottle of rose liqueur you see in the pictures. It’s from a French distiller called G. Miclo in Alsace and he was told that this one is also 100% pure. I tasted it the same evening. I have to try some more to give a good judgement as to the difference between the two, but I think the Miclo version is a bit more ‘perfumy’ than the Van Wees one, which seems to be sweeter and has a hint of vanilla and some other ‘secret’ additions. But they both are a delight and inspiration. So I immediately got the idea for some rose meringues…

Meringues, it’s my one weakness