Refreshing homemade sweets made from gulkand or rose petal preserve. A mouth freshener, mood lifter, palate cleanser and crowd pleaser rolled into one.

Gulkand is an Indian tradition that has withstood the test of time. In the olden times, it was regarded as a delicacy since it had a complicated cooking process and the roses from which it was made were lived for a short season only. It still is royal and rare, but this sweet rose preserve is more easily available now.

Ammiji, of course, used to make her own gulkand. Since it is the perfect coolant for an Indian summer, she would make it once a year and use it the next, when she would make another batch for the following year. It was used in a myriad of ways but this was our favorite. Sweets made from gulkand and rock sugar – with an intense sugar rush that every kid loved. For us kids, it was unfortunate that the adults liked these sweets as much as we did. (We got a smaller share, actually!)

These sweets can be used as dessert or as a mouth freshener. How many you want to eat in one sitting is entirely up to you!