Rose Cocktail, a Strawberry, Pineapple and Orange-Flower Mocktail from 1922
Reader ratingsStrawberries, pineapple, orange and lemon shaken with orange-flower water and strained into a small wine glass under rose petals: the alcohol-free Rose Cocktail of a 1922 London bar book.
- Recipe makes
- 1 small drink, about 4 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
Rose Cocktail with floating rose petals in a shallow stemmed glass, beside two strawberries.
The story behind the recipe
The Rose Cocktail has no rose in it except the petals on top. It is a shaken fruit drink of strawberries, a little pineapple, orange and lemon juice and a few dashes of orange-flower water, sweetened with any fruit syrup and strained into a small wine glass. Robert Vermeire printed it in 1922 in his London bar book, Cocktails: How to Mix Them, in the chapter of “Non-Alcoholic Cocktails,” on the same page as the Pussyfoot.
Two Rose Cocktails
The same book has another Rose Cocktail ten pages earlier, made with gin, French vermouth, Dubonnet and grenadine. Vermeire kept both names and gave the dry guest the fruit one. The scent comes from the orange-flower water, the same blossom water that perfumes an old orgeat; the petals are decoration. The chapter it sits in is told in What Did Bartenders Mix for Non-Drinkers in the 1920s?
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
Use petals from roses grown without sprays, or food-grade dried petals. Culinary orange-flower water is made without alcohol, but check the label. A ripe pineapple and sweet strawberries need only a teaspoon of syrup. For a jug of strawberry and orange-flower water made ahead, steeped rather than shaken, try the 1924 Persian Sherbet.
Rose Cocktail. Fill the shaker half full of broken ice and add: 3 or 4 strawberries cut in pieces. Half a slice of pine-apple cut in pieces. The juice of half a lemon. The juice of 1 orange. A few dashes of fleur d’oranger. Sweeten to taste with any fruit syrup. Shake well, strain into a small wine-glass, and decorate with rose petals.
Recipe makes: 1 small drink, about 4 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 small drink, about 4 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 small drink, about 4 fl oz.
- Strawberries, cut in pieces4
- Fresh pineapple, cut in pieces (about half a slice)30 g
- Fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)3/4 fl oz
- Fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)2 1/2 fl oz
- Orange-flower water1/4 tsp
- Raspberry or strawberry syrup1–2 tsp
- Ice cubes1 cup
- Unsprayed rose petals, to decorate3
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 4 strawberries, cut in pieces
- 30 g fresh pineapple, cut in pieces (about half a slice)
- 3/4 fl oz fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)
- 2 1/2 fl oz fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
- 1/4 tsp orange-flower water
- 1 to 2 tsp raspberry or strawberry syrup
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 3 unsprayed rose petals, to decorate
Equipment
Cocktail shaker
Fine strainer
Citrus juicer
Small stemmed wine glass, about 6 fl oz
Instructions
Put the ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and add the strawberries, fresh pineapple, fresh lemon juice, fresh orange juice and orange-flower water.
Add the raspberry or strawberry syrup, starting with the smaller amount.
Close the shaker and shake hard for about 15 seconds, so the ice breaks up the fruit.
Taste and add a little more syrup if it needs it. Strain through a fine strainer into a small stemmed wine glass, so no fruit goes in.
Float the unsprayed rose petals on top and serve at once.
Nutrition
80calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 small drink, about 4 fl oz
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for orange juice, lemon juice, strawberries, pineapple and fruit syrup, for one drink.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one drink. Shake no more than two at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
Vermeire’s “few dashes of fleur d’oranger” is read here as 1/4 tsp; orange-flower waters vary, so add it a drop at a time if yours is strong. Canned pineapple works in place of fresh. For a bigger drink, top the strained glass with a splash of soda water, our option, not Vermeire’s.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Robert Vermeire, Cocktails: How to Mix Them (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1922; eleventh printing), p. 52, “Rose Cocktail”
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Drink
- Alcohol-freeMocktail
- Drink family
- Sodas & Soft Drinks
- Region
- British
- Era
- Jazz Age
- Source decade
- 1920s
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Summer party
- Season
- Summer