June means roses are in bloom on Vancouver Island and in lots of other places in the world.
Not just beautiful to look at and many with captivating scents but all sorts of colours from pink to deep purple, yellow, white, salmon coloured, orange, and many more – and the petals are edible!
Wild rose petals often look like little hearts. Not surprising when you think of the symbolism of roses for emotions, love, romance, and the heart.
There are many options to preserve the sweet heart warming bliss of roses, my favourites however are roses petal jelly, rose jam, and rose cordial.
Some varieties are a little bitter, some not as sweetly scented but the best results will come by using pink, red, and purple rose petals. Most importantly they need to be unsprayed so best from your own garden or wild harvested.
For the jelly I used following ingredients:
2 cups of water
3 cups pink rose petals
1.5 cups of sugar (plus about 3 Tbsp more)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 teaspoons pectin powder (no sugar needed)
Directions: Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat, add the petals and let them steep for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the petals.
Add sugar and lemon, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 2 minutes. Mix pectin with 3Tbsp of sugar and stir into the liquid. Boil for 2 more minutes and remove from heat.
Pour into sterilized jars and keep in the fridge for up to 6 months.
And my recipe for the rose petal jam:
2 cups fresh rose petals
1.5 cups of water
2 cups berry sugar (very fine sugar) divided
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
a dash of balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoons of pectin powder (no sugar needed)
Directions: Combine the rose petals and water and bring them to a gentle boil over medium heat. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar the lemon juice and stir to dissolve the sugar. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with the pectin powder and slowly sprinkle it into the rose petals. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Fill into sterilized jars and store in the fridge for several months.
For both recipes I love to observe the moment you add the lemon juice as that will change the pale rose colour into a deep red!
Both versions are wondefuö to spread over toast or a scone and are a very special treat!
