A cold, fragrant drink made from fresh or dried rose petals, sugar syrup and cold water — the classic Rajasthani rose sherbet made from the Pushkar and Haldighati roses. Served at royal ceremonies, weddings and at the famous Pushkar camel fair.
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh rose petals (from fragrant, unsprayed roses — the deep red or dark pink varieties; or 2 tbsp dried rose petals from a reputable source)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water for the syrup
3 to 4 cups cold water for serving
1/2 tsp rose water (ruh gulab — distilled rose water; available at Indian grocery stores)
ice cubes
Method
Wash rose petals: If using fresh rose petals, wash them gently in cold water. Shake off excess moisture. Choose petals from fragrant, unsprayed roses — the fragrance is the point.
Make the rose petal syrup: Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a pot. Heat stirring until sugar dissolves. Add the rose petals. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. The syrup will take on a pale pink colour and deep rose fragrance.
Cool the syrup: Remove from heat. Let the rose petals steep in the cooling syrup for 10 minutes. The longer they steep, the more intensely fragrant the syrup.
Strain: Pour through a fine strainer. Press the rose petals to extract all the fragrant syrup. Discard the petals.
Add rose water: Add 1/2 tsp rose water (ruh gulab) to the strained syrup. Stir. The ruh gulab is a concentrated distilled rose water — it intensifies the rose fragrance of the syrup.
Taste the syrup: It should smell deeply and purely of rose, taste sweet and floral. If the fragrance is not strong enough, steep the syrup with additional fresh rose petals for 5 more minutes.
Fill glasses with ice: Add 4 to 5 ice cubes to each glass.
Add syrup: Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of rose syrup to each ice-filled glass.
Add cold water: Fill the glass with cold water. Stir gently.
Serve immediately: The gulaab sharbat should be fragrant, cold and pale pink. Garnish with one fresh rose petal if available.
Note: Gulaab (rose) cultivation in Rajasthan — particularly in Pushkar (Ajmer district) and the Haldighati area (Rajsamand district) — produces the fragrant roses used for making ruh gulab (distilled rose water). Pushkar is one of India's most important pilgrimage sites and its markets are famous for rose-based products. The Pushkar camel fair, held annually in November, has stalls selling gulaab sharbat by the litre to hundreds of thousands of visitors.