'Eat Your Roses' in 2012!

Who knew? The International Herb Association has chosen the rose as its 2012 Herb of the Year. Meanwhile, nurseries and garden centers expect edible plants to remain popular.

Roses - the hips and petals - have a multitude of uses, from candied and crystallized petals, vinegars and teas to essential oils for cosmetics and medicines.

But take heed before you start serving up petals, warns Kitty Morse, author of Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion: "Make sure flowers you choose have been grown naturally, without the use of pesticides." For this reason, most fresh-cut flowers from florist shops and nurseries are unacceptable. Instead, Morse suggests harvesting chemical-free roses from your own back yard. And since many fragrant heirloom roses are susceptible to pests and disease, this means growing easy-care landscaping roses like the Flower Carpet line (Amber shown above), which is naturally pest- and disease-resistant (read: no chemical treatments needed).

"My mother used to make rose jam and tea and sugared rose petals back in the '50s," says Colorado garden blogger Becky Dziarnowski. Now, she makes tea from the hips of her Amber, Yellow and Scarlet Flower Carpet roses, crushing two or three hips and then steeping them in a tea ball for five minutes. "The Amber petals are sweet," says Dzarnowski, "like a super-ripe cantaloupe."

Rose petal ice cream is a favorite of Denise Schreiber, author of Eat Your Roses … Pansies, Lavender and 49 Other Delicious Edible Flowers. After removing the white bitter part from the bottom of each petal, Schreiber dries them on a shelf or in an oven warmed to 200 degrees, then shut off. She mixes a quarter cup of the dried, crumbled petals into a half-gallon of French vanilla ice cream and boosts the rose flavor with a teaspoon of rose water and 2 tablespoons of rose syrup (available at most Middle Eastern groceries or in the international foods section of some supermarkets). The garnish: a sprinkling of fresh rose petals.

"Generally, the darker the color, the deeper the flavor," advises Morse. Born and raised in Morocco, where roses are regularly used in cuisine, Morse recommends harvesting roses early in the morning, washing them and then laying them on paper towels to dry. She likes making rose syrup lemonade with rose petal ice cubes and also adds a splash of rose syrup to champagne before serving it in flutes: "It's very refreshing; it cleanses the palette in between courses."

So dare to be different this year, and eat your roses! You might just find yourself a new a culinary favorite!