Oh, what a great weekend :) We had a really nice relaxing time – some shopping, some cooking, a bit of hanging around and a really neat day trip with friends (maybe I’ll post some pictures later on). But, the most important part of the weekend was that finally, the rose bushes next to our flat started to blossom! And that means that the time has come to make a jam from rose petals! Yup, I’m not crazy, you can make a kind of jam from flowers. It is actually he taste of my childhood. My grandma uses it mixed together with plum marmalade to stuff doughnuts. The rose petal jam doesn’t have any particular taste, it is sugary with tiny bit tart aftertaste, but it’s totally not about it. Everything comes to it’s amazing smell! It is used to perfume whatever you mix it with and it is fantastic! I collect petals from Rosa Rugosa, that is a very common shrub in Europe. When collecting the petals you need to remember not to pick them in the vicinity of any road. The preserves are really easy to make and there is so much sugar that you don’t even need to bother with pasteurization.
Ingredients:
rose petals
sugar
1. Collect the petals. You’ll need quite much of those. The above tiny jar of jam was made from a salad bowl full of petals.
2. Spread the petals on the table covered with newspapers and let all inhabitants escape ;)
3. Now the most tiresome task – grab scissors and cut away all the white parts of petals. They are really bitter and need to be removed.
4. Put the petals eg to your measuring flask and squeeze them very tight there with your hand, look at the volume that they take in the dish, now that’s the volume of sugar you’re gonna add
5. Blend the petals together with sugar. If it is too watery, then add a bit more sugar. Transfer to clean jar.
Very lovely. What a beautiful color. I would say you are making a butter and not a jam. Jams have pectine in my book while butters are simply a fruit mushed with sugar. Besides it has a nice ring ‘Rose Butter’. :)
That’s very possible that it is butter,I’m not really an expert in preserving foods ;) Thanks for the note, I’ll definitely try to search more on those preserve categories, it’s pretty interesting how they are defining those :)
Hi,
So, do you cook them? Put them into a container and wait? Simmer? Hard boil?
Hi! You don’t need any other preparation than what is described. You can even use it immediately, of course it’s a bit better after several days because more juice is released from the remaining flower pieces. It can be stored for several months :)
i like very much to cook with flowers but quite difficult to find here !! have a good day !! Pierre de Paris
Hi Pierre! I believe once can use as well other species of rose, eg whatever one has in the garden. One just have to be careful about the pesticides and of course the wild varieties have much more intensive smell. You’re right it’s pretty much fun to cook with flowers, it’s just a pity that the knowledge which ones are edible slowly dissapears, cause people are not so much interested in their use :(
hi there
I jsut answer to your comment on my blog about hte pistachio paste ; I buy alreaday made ; I find in specialised grocery store which are quite numerous in France at least in Paris ; this is a think very dark green paste made of crushed pistachio and sugar ; it looks like “tar” but eatable of course and when you use and mix wix with other food items a beautiful green appears like i have mixed with chantilly a pale green jade colour !
I believe if you google for the recipe you can find it !!
I love your blog keep going on !!
Pierre de Paris
Thanks, I’ve never seen anything like it in Finland, I guess I’ll try to do it myself, I love pistachios and already can imagine this mousse in some desserts :)
This is not Rosa canina but Rosa rugosa;) And I love it! Jam, confit, syrup and many other rosal dishes are simply magical.
Best wishes:)
can be ;) I’m not excelling in botany ;) Thanks for correction :)
Beautiful rose petal jam. Ahhh…I miss my rose bushes.
Alez cudny kolor! Uwielbiam konfiture z platkow rozy; tan zapach i smak sa niepowtarzalne, prawda? :)
Pozdrawiam serdecznie!
Oj sa niepowtarzalne :) jestem od nich uzalezniona :)
hi there a hello from very sunny and hot Paris !! Cheers Pierre
Its called Gulkand in India. It has a age old tradition and medicinal properties. look for the name and you will find enough info on the internet
Thanks! I had no idea that something similar is used in India and even has health properties! It’s really interesting, for sure I’ll read more about it thanks!
This looks so easy! I expected to have to boil it and tinker and so on. All of our rose petals were knocked off by the rains this week except for a pretty few and I don’t want to strip them for jam. As soon as the flowers are producing a lot again I am going to try this with my kiddos! Thanks!
Yup, it really is simple, it only requires a lot of petals and of course it is a bit tiresome to cut off the white parts of the petals. I hope you’ll like it and that it will become your family recipe as well :)
That would be worth trying! Looks great!
Hi! My name is steph and I found your through foodgawker… I’m hosting a jam exchange and thought you might be interested :) http://stephchows.blogspot.com/2010/07/2nd-annual-jam-exchange.html
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my grandma was the best in rose jam making!!!