Drying Rose Petals

[Jennykenny]

Am trying to try the petals of my favourite rose, Ena Harkness, wonderful scent, by spreading the petals out on newspaper but they don't seem to retain much of the original smell.
Anything else I should be doing?

[woofgang]

Rose petals don't keep much of their scent because the scent is in volatile oils which is why you can smell the scent from feet away from the rose. Drying the petals drives off the moisture and the oils. To fix them as much as you can, add orris root powder
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/education/youth/activities/pdfs/potpourri.pdf

[Khandro]

Better to make rosewater;
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rosewater

[atalanta]

I once used orris root powder for Pot Pourri, but it just looked messy. Get the Pot Pourri oils from Baldwin's of the Walworth Road. Their oils are gorgeous.
baldwins.co.uk

[woofgang]

I know that's what loads of people do but its kind of cheating. You can get anything and put scented oils on it to make it smell sweet but its not really making pot pourri!

[Jennykenny]

Thanks everyone.

[Clanad]

We have an old stone jar with top, probably about 1 gallon in size. Mrs. C puts all of her rose petals in the jar and it sits in a dark, cool place until shee needs them. Works well, probably (by her own admission) would be even better if the petals were from only one variety...