rose & raspberry jam

Sabine

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A while ago, my friend Oksana gave me the most enchanting gift: a jar of rose petal jam from her mother´s garden. It was of the prettiest colour, a dark deep pinkish red, with countless little petals throughout and that floral perfume that´s almost more beguiling when it ascends from a jar. I really love that kind of old-fashioned flower recipe, and the idea of a having a mouthful of roses to stir into Greek yoghurt or fromage blanc sounded all too tempting, so I wanted to recreate it. For weeks now, I´ve been eyeing at the rose bushes in our garden, and when the buds finally opened about a week ago, sending subtle hints of summer scent towards anyone who crosses our foreyard, it was about time to grab my scissors.

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For this jam, the roses you choose have to be fragrant ones – because in this case, what we taste is actually what we smell. I wanted to eat the petals, too, so I liberally plucked off the outer ones which would be chewy, and only kept the inner, tender, more delicate ones for the recipe – just like in Aschenputtel/Cinderella, my daughter´s favorite Grimm´s Märchen: Die guten ins Töpfchen, die schlechten ins Kröpfchen,`The good ones into your pot, the bad ones into your crop`. If you are lucky to own, or have access to, roses with very small, fragrant flowers, ideally in deep pink or red – they would be perfect here. Mine, in contrast, are rather pale, so a few raspberries were welcome not only for a boost in color, but also for tartness; still this jam is quite sweet.

As it gently bubbles away on the stovetop, it´s hard not to be mesmerized by the smell of roses that breezes through the kitchen.  And when you finally taste a spoonful, then at the latest, you´ll fall under the spell of cette belle confiture à l´ancienne (this lovely old-fashioned jam).

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rose & raspberry jam – about 650 ml (2 bonne maman jars):

adapted from this recipe by Emiko Davies

125 g untreated rose petals
juice of 1 lemon
280 g/ml water
400 g sugar
1 tbsp rose water
125 g raspberries

Use small, delicate, fragrant petals for this recipe, or the “thinner” parts of larger petals. Rinse them carefully under cold water to get rid of any bugs, caterpillars or dirt. Dry gently with kitchen paper or with a few gentle turns in the salad drier.

In a large bowl, add petals with about one third of the sugar, lemon juice, and rose water. Using your hands, gently knead or “massage” rose petals for 2 minutes or so, in order to release flavor and improve the color, but try not to tear them up too much.

Meanwhile, heat water with the remaining sugar. Add rose petal mixture. Strain raspberries through a sieve to remove the kernels, and add to the pot. Bring to a soft boil and allow to cook over low-medium heat for 25-30 minutes; it will not get as thick and jam-like as usual marmalade, but rather syrupy.  As I like to stir it into plain yoghurt, the consistency suits me fine. In any case, don´t overcook, or the color will look brownish.

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21 Comments

  1. Just beautiful! I like that you added raspberries. I catered a friend’s wedding a long time ago and I made rose petal cookies. They were pretty, and pretty incredible!

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    1. Wow, Mimi, what a Herculean task to cater a friend´s wedding! I´m deeply impressed, and I can ´t stop daydreaming about your rose petal cookies !

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  5. Funnily enough I have just returned from la France Profonde where we have our little project house which is called la Maison Carrée but which I have taken to calling la Maison Catastrophe as we take two steps backwards and another for good measure (honestly it WILL be beautiful and I’m sure we really ARE about to turn the corner). To take my mind off the headache I get trying to figure how to rescue the murdered staircase (by the hand of our predecessor not us) without resorting to asking for a new one to be built which would be sacrilege, I went outside to tend the beauteous roses that climb the walls – deepest blood red, vivid sunburst yellow and Barbie pink and my nose ascended to heaven. I had the scent in my nostrils all the way back to Grenoble (6 hours on a good day with a following wind) and now I can’t wait to hightail it back again and gather petals for this. Because I do believe this will make any heartache evaporate!

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      2. It will be all fine, I´m sure! I´ve had a maison catastrophe, too, while it was built, and now it´s a maison bonheur 😉 yours will be as well!!

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      3. Actually for the first time, I really think it will be which is a lovely feeling indeed! Thank you for the vote of confidence …. you clearly understand well!!

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