Home-made Rose Milk

Just as I have fond memories of kulfis from my childhood, rose milk holds a special place in my heart too. In those days, most of our houses in the colony had no refrigerator. We bought our first refrigerator when I was 10years old. So on those hot days of summer, ice cubes and ice water were like priced possessions – often shared across neighborhood. We would prepare fresh mango juice at home and the ice cubes would come from Priya aunty’s house. A jar of our mango juice would be sent to their house. Sharing was such a common thing. Infact, we all seldom closed our main doors except for sleeping at nights. Sigh I so miss those days.

Ok enough digression. Coming back to the story of rose milk, our neighbor Priya aunty used to prepare a big jar of rose milk and store it in the fridge. Tiredness of all the play in the sun, we would run to the fridge and savor the rose milk. More than anything, it was the pale rose color that was very interesting to me. Now, all she did was mix a packet of store bought rose milk powder with milk. Years later, I tried the store bought packet and it didn’t feel the same anymore.

Last weekend, I attempted to prepare rose milk at home. Instead of the store bought powder, I used rose essence to prepare the rose syrup myself and it turned out quite delectable. S gave a huge thumbs-up after taking the first sip and I was a happy soul 🙂 Rose milk is such a famous drink in Tamilnadu and now that its summer, all the juice shops would serving cold rose milk by hundreds of glasses 🙂

To prepare Rose Milk

Serves – 6 (Makes a cup of rose syrup)

Time to prepare – 10mins + cooling time

What I used –

• Sugar, 1 cup
• Water, 1 cup
• Rose Essence, 1 tsp
• Pink Liquid Food Color, ¾ tsp

How I made –

1. In a pot, add sugar and water. Place it on medium heat and keep stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Cook the sugar syrup until ½ string consistency. Place a drop of sugar syrup in between your index finger and thumb. When gently pulling your fingers apart, the sugar syrup should be sticky but should not form a string.
3. Take the syrup off heat and add the rose essence along with pink food color. Stir well. Let it cool completely. Rose syrup is ready.
4. To make a glass of rose milk, add three tablespoon of the prepared rose syrup and mix cold milk. Top it with ice cubes and serve immediately.

Note: Do not boil the sugar syrup for a long time after the sugar has dissolved. On cooling, the syrup can crystalize. Add completely cooled milk and refrigerate for best results. Adjust the sugar levels as per personal preferences after the rose milk is prepared. Rose syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month.