The verdict

Eagerly preparing the tasting of our rose petal jam. Properly dressed for the occasion of course.

Main course; Wooden fish head and sausages (with velcro).




And then this monstrous thing for dessert; just a plain slice of bread with whipped cream and rose petal jam... or sauce as it turned out. I've found lots of different variations on the rose petal jam recipe and most of them says that you should tear the petals into large(ish) pieces, put the petals or the finished jam in a blender or remove the petals altogether (for jelly - got to try it). Our recipe said nothing about that, so when the jam was ready I got the old "feeling a bit sick" about all thing roses again... Not good. It certainly didn't look like anything I'd like to eat. So I put it in the blender and got a thick rose petal sauce.



I couldn't finish this, but it was great! Nothing like potpourri, I promise. It was a very delicate, sweet and even child-friendly. I kept thinking of weddings, overly romantic "chick-flick" movies and the hot flashes and dizziness of falling in love. Don't know what came over me :)

I'm going to buy some good quality vanilla ice cream and serve it with lukewarm rose petal sauce. Decorating with some rosebuds, lemon verbena leaves or lemon balm...

Mid-summer luxury in a jar. Recipe:

Rose petal sauce/jam

750ml water
500g sugar
250g rose petals
Juice of two lemons

(I made half this)

Remove the white heels and a little of the though part at the bottom of the petals. (If you don't the jam will be quite bitter). Put them in a blender and pulsate for just a few seconds or tear them to smaller pieces. Mix in half the sugar. Leave overnight in the fridge. Dissolve the rest of the sugar in a pan with water and lemon juice. Add the petals and sugar mix and simmer for about 20 mins or until you get the consistency you want. Pour into clean jars and seal.

I have no idea how long this will keep in the fridge, but I guess the safest thing would be to put small portions in plastic bags, yogurt jars, ice trays or something and put in the freezer.