Cooking with Flowers - part 1

Just before Christmas my roses were flowering like crazy. They're just outside my back door, and stepping into the garden I was immediately surrounded by their heavenly perfume.  It was simply delightful!

The roses were so bountiful I decided to make some Rose Petal Jam. Its really easy and I thought I would share the recipe with you.

Rose Petal Jam

60 roses (petals removed from the stalk)

1kg sugar

1 litre water

1 ts citric acid

Place the rose petals, sugar and water in a large pan and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 20 minutes

Add citric acid and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.

Whilst warm, pour the jam into sterilised jars and seal. (The easiest way is to put them through a dishwasher, or you can wash them in warm soapy water, rinse, and place upside down on a baking tray in a 150 degrees C oven for 30 minutes. The jars should be hot when the jam is ready to pour)

Makes about 6 small jars.

Whilst writing this I remembered that its not always easy to tell when the jam has set. There are a couple of ways to check this. 

1. Keep a small saucer in the freezer and when you think the jam is ready, drop a little bit on the saucer. If the drop gets a skin on it, you know the jam is ready.
2. Another trick is to use a thermometer. When the temperature reaches 105 degrees C the jam is ready.
3. Another trick is to omit the citric acid and replace with Jamsetta (available from supermarkets) this takes the guess work out of it and you get great jam, every time.

The great thing with rose petal jam, is that if it doesnt quite set you've got rose water, which you can also use in cooking.

A great recipe to use Rose Petal Jam is Rose and Almond Shortbread. I found this recipe on www.taste.com.au 

Rose and Almond Shortbread

• 
  
• 180g soft butter
• 125g (3/4 cup) icing sugar mixture, sifted
• 1 x 100g pkt almond meal
• 115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
• 45g (1/4 cup) white rice flour
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tbs rosewater essence (I use rose petal jam watered down)
• 125g (3/4 cup) icing sugar mixture, extra, to dust

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease. Use an electric beater to beat together the butter and icing sugar mixture in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the almond meal and sift over the flours and ground cloves. Stir until well combined.
2. Use your hands to roll heaped tablespoonsful of mixture into 8cm long logs. Shape into crescents and place on prepared trays, about 3cm apart. Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 25 minutes or until cooked through and light golden. Remove from oven.
3. Lightly brush shortbreads with rosewater essence and set aside on trays for 30 minutes to cool and firm.
4. Dust shortbreads with extra icing sugar, turning to evenly coat in the sugar. Set aside for a further 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Enjoy! x