Rose Jam

Many people were interested in my attempt to make rose jam, so I will take a little side road away from drawing and painting and focus on the art of making food instead.

My Rose Jam Experiment, summer 2019

First of all, I did make some changes to the recipe that was in this YouTube link I referenced in my last post. It was too much sugar for my taste! I know you need enough sugar for jams to be safe to store, but there was also added lemon juice so I hoped that would be enough citric acid to do the job instead. I decided to be extra safe and keep my jar of jam in the fridge, just in case. The way I made the recipe, it only yielded one 8 ounce jar.

Here's how I made my jam:

Gather 12 large rose heads, trim and gently rinse in water and drain.

A tip on gathering the roses. The white bits where the rose petals attach to the center are supposed to be trimmed off. The recipe I followed said they make the jam bitter. Don't trim these off each petal individually, it's crazy making! :P  Grasp the entire rose head and trim the white bits off all at once.

Put your clean rose petals in a bowl and add
2 Tbsp of sugar 
1/4 tsp of citric acid OR 1 Tbsp of bottled lemon juice.
Do not use fresh lemon juice, the citric acid levels are too random to be safe. See note below***

Mix the petals and sugar and citric acid together gently with your hands until the rose petals wilt and reduce. Cover the bowl tightly or put them in a resealable plastic bag and let them rest in the fridge for a day or two, but not much longer or they may go brown.

On jam making day:

Sterilize 8 oz. canning jar and lid.

Bring to boil
1 and 3/4 cup water 
Add prepared rose petals from the fridge.
Cook about 10-11 minutes or until rose petals don't "squeak" when you chew one. Be careful not to over cook them.

Petals will look faded and pale. With a slotted spoon, remove them from the water and set aside.

To the water, add
1 and 1/3rd cup sugar...the original recipe called for TRIPLE  that amount. :O  Adjust to suit your taste.
Cook about 10 minutes more, stirring often. Test syrup on a plate by dripping small amounts and letting it cool to check it's consistency.

When it is honey like, re-add the rose petals and bring back to boil.

Add
1/2 tsp. of citric acid OR 2 Tbsp lemon juice and cook for a minute or two more. The rose petals will turn red again. It's really cool to see.

Check consistency and turn off heat. Allow the jam to be a little thinner than you want, it will thicken more as it cools.

Originally, I left the rose petals in the jam, but I discovered I didn't like the texture. Eventually I re-heated the jam and strained the petals out from the syrup. My syrup was rather thin since I didn't use so much sugar. Next time I'll try using 2 cups of sugar. I may use the petals in a cake or something...I'm not sure what yet.

The syrup is really great on yogurt and ice-cream. I also like to add it to carbonated water for an interesting summer fizzy drink.

***
Here's the FYI I referenced about substituting bottled lemon juice for citric acid...

"Canned foods need to contain a certain amount of acidity or sugar to prevent food-borne illnesses, such as botulism.
Because the acidity of fresh lemon juice varies, it's best to use canned or bottled lemon juice in canning; it has a consistent acidity level.
 Use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for each 1/2 teaspoon of crystalline citric acid, which is enough for a quart of canned tomatoes."

https://www.livestrong.com/article/520416-how-to

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

p.s. 
The roses I used were blooming in front of our apartment. No pesticides have been used on them since we have lived here.