My mom loves anything Rose…perhaps because she was born in Portland Oregon. It was odd as her parents lived in Shanghai! The story goes that my grandmother got on a steamship at 9 months pregnant and had my mom in Portland and 10 days later was back on the boat to Shanghai. This is my favorite photo of her, I have the pearls.
I am lucky, when I bought my rundown, totally to restore, moneypit 1/3 of a farmhouse in Tuscany ( #NOTFRANCESMAYES), it had an antique rose bush.
Did you know that very few roses have scent anymore? Scented roses tend to be the antique roses. The one I have also doesn’t have the bitter white bit most people say to remove when using rose petals.
It survived the restoration, being moved and my not being a gardner.
I have been making Rose Jam, and now am trying my own hand at Rose Syrup.
This is for my mom… Happy Mother’s day!
Ingredients
- Sciroppo di Rose
- 3 cups of scented rose petals, not sprayed!
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups sugar
- 4 tbs lemon juice
- red food coloring ( I am trying red poppy petals!)
Instructions
- Rinse off the rose petals to remove dust and any ants or spiders.
- Bring water to a boil.
- Turn off heat and add petals ( rose and poppy).
- Let sit for 12 hours.
- Strain the water from the petals, saving the water in a pot.
- Squeeze all the water out of the petals into the pot.
- Add sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
- Turn off and bottle.
- Rose syrup is fabulous on yogurt, ricotta or in drinks.
“Mamma de Judy” is a true rose!
Travelberg
if you ever have enough of your life, can i have some of it? 🙂
Thanks… there are down times too, like restoring a tiny house… that took 8 years.. mostly red tape. but luckily I lived through it!
Judy, is the lemon juice added at the end? This looks delicious and I think I’m going to try it now that the roses are in full bloom here around the house (and pesticide-free)…
Lemon juice can be added at anytime, the acidity is to help it keep!
TOday I made jam,.. will report later.
Greeting from Portland Oregon. It is late May and we are just a week or two away from our true Rose Season. Your pink rose is beautiful!
My son and I are coming to Florence next spring – in March and are dying to see the farmers markets. We have many here in Portland and just love them.
Greetings from California! I’ve met you both here and in Florence and totally agree with your food sense. Please share your rose jam recipe too.
I’ve searched everywhere for a simple jam recipe that does not use pectin or lemon juice; just roses and sugar. Is that possible? Some recipes say that pink roses taste best, but red are prettiest. Have you noticed which roses work best?
With roses and sugar and water..you get syrup.
PEctin, which is a natural ingredient in apples, added makes it JAM…. and the lemon juice adds acidity to prevent mold!
if you are just going to make it and use it.. no problem, but lemon juice also accents flavor.
All roses are different, and most hybrids don’t have fragrance.
Thank you! This helps a lot, especially since it will be an 8 hr. drive to get the organic roses; I want to do it right the first time. Guess I’ll be using pectin after all. How did your jam turn out?
I did both syrup and jam.. loved both!
even when you make the jam you can still add it to hot water and serve it like a tea, or to sweeten a tea which is what my mom says the Russians do ( her mom was Russian)
we had it on yogurt and it was fabulous.. next.. panna cotta..? ice cream???
Hi Judy, I just tried making a batch of jam with Cecille Brunners; the flavor is addictive, but the petals are like pieces of cooked paper. How do you make your jam?
http://www.recipegal.com/other/RosePetalJam.htm
here is a simple recipe.
The trick is pureeing the petals.
I used a similar recipe…using ITalian pectin.
Thank you, Judy! Having bombed on my first experiment, I’m all ears. (I’ve used up all my unsprayed roses, so I’ll have to find another source–lucky you to have your own!)
Now I know why pureeing the petals is so important; that will eliminate the paper problem. The added water will help too, mine crytalized and became rose petal candy, which had a bitter aftertaste. Sigh. Any idea what would make it bitter so I don’t do that again? Overheat? The roses were unsprayed.
Am I right in assuming that “1 cup rose petals” means “1 cup tightly packed”–about 8-10 blooms?
I can’t thank you enough for your guidance.
sounds like it was not enough water for jam!
you probably cooked it too long, it is really a quick cook and the pectin helps set it up!
unlike regular jam that thickens with cooking.
Try reading your pectin box too!
Thanks! I’ll let you know how it goes as soon as I track down more roses.
OK. I am going to do this. Thanks for the inspiration, O Diva.