Roses of Brooklyn (Passover Rosewater Extract)

Wednesday I went to the Holon supermarket on King’s Highway in Brooklyn, where I found some teeny-tiny little ½-ounce jars of kosher-for-Passover rose water extract and orange flower water extract. The grocer explained that I should use just a drop of extract in a recipe that would call for a tablespoon of rose water. I have been hoping to find something like this for years. If I were to assess the effectiveness of my shopping trips on an ounce-per-mile basis, then today’s trip would be a very inefficient trip indeed. On a coolness-per-mile basis, however, I think I did pretty well.

I first learned about Holon and the other grocery stores on King’s Highway from Ilana Goldberg’s amazing and very funny short movie Makolet. If your library has a copy and you have twenty-four minutes, you don’t want to miss what may be my very favorite food movie in the world.

I am planning to use orange flower water extract in an orange almond cake, and the rose in a carrot and pistachio halva.