No, this will not be a literary post, however I am quite fond of that quote by Gertrude Stein and when I heard it the first time I was quite fascinated with its mythical aura.
What is so alluring about a rose? There exist over a 100 species so there is bound to be different shapes – erect, trailing, climbing – and colours from white, yellow, orange over pink to a deep burgundy, some smell, some do not. Ah, and some have nasty thorns which might make you sleep for a hundred years.
When I go to the farmer market in Lörrach these days, there is an abundance of roses. Last Saturday I bought two sorts: a deep red one with a beautiful fragrance of raspberries and a very light pink one with red petals on the outside.
my beautiful rose bouquet
I have been intrigued by the idea of making rose gelée (or jelly) ever since a friend has told me about it and given me a recipe.
This is my first go at making it and I am pleased with the lovely colour of the gelée. It is rather sweet but I like the combination of the somewhat tart apple juice and rose petals.
I particularly like the pale pink rose which has several blossoms on a single stem
Rose Gelée
(or Rose Jelly)
Preparation: 25 minutes
Yield: 3 jars @ 2 dl
5 dl clear apple juice (100 % fruit)
½ TS rose water
1 TS lemon juice
½ cinnamon stick
500 g gelling sugar
Petals of ca. 4 fragrance roses (ca. 50 g)
Make sure the petals have not been treated with any chemical substance!
I needed rose petals of 8 roses
Bring apple juice, rose water, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and half of the gelling sugar to a bubbling boil.
Let boil for about 3 minutes, you might have to skim it.
Add the other half of the gelling sugar and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and take out your cinnamon stick.
Mix in rose petals.
Fill the jelly in clean and sterilised jars and immediately put the lids on.
Sterilise in steamer or bain-marie.
Put the jars upside down for cooling. When the jelly is firm, turn over so the rose petals will spread evenly.
Will keep for one year. Once opened store in fridge and consume within days.
My pretty rose gelée
I am not so pleased with the law of gravity taking control over my rose petals. Putting the jars upside down for cooling and then turning them over so the petals would settle in the middle did not work.
Do you have any idea or tips how to fare better next time? Do you have any favourite “exotic” jam recipe you would like to share?
Comments 22
I can’t offer any recipes but I liked reading about it. I find it fascinating to think about how the flowers have developed over time. I know that man has been involved in the breeding, but still I find it incredible that there are over 100 different kinds of roses.
Hi, Jack, and I hope you would enjoy eating it! With or without mankind nature has evolved over the centuries and created wonderful worlds of flora and fauna. Trust you are doing well and your future looks bright and shiny?
Hi Barbara! Happy Birthday! Yes, a little FB Birdy told me! Rose gelée?! It looks interesting! I”m trying to imagine how it tastes! what a beautiful gift it would make! (I would add: “Hint hint” if we didn’t live so far away! But imagine it as a hostess gift! Don’t you just love hostess gifts?I hope your day is sunny and peaceful Barbara! See you next Wednesday at the Hangout!LoriP.S. Do you like the new Livefyre?
Lori Hi Lori! Thanks again for your lovely wishes. Just have come back from my friend’s birthday party and a lovely dinner. I really look forward to a good night’s sleep and sweet dreams after all those festivities. Can you imagine that I thanked all the FB birdies today? I have a lot of catching up to do over the weekend! I mean to finish your book as well. And I read you loud and clear: promise, one day you will taste the rose gelée, sooner if you try it yourself, later if you rely on me! And I do not dare to ship it! Gifts are always great, I love to make gifts, especially with food, there are always so many stories involved with it, ideas to be shared and grounds for future creativity to be prepared. I think the new Livefyre could be a great thing, right now it is a trial and error thing, so far I have noticed that the points do not show up any longer and that we have some editing functions. I would wish that Livefyre had included some feature lists with the Beta version. And what do you think of it?Wishing you a peaceful weekendBarbara
Late_Bloomers I like the new Livefyre except that, until the get this bug out, the comments take a long time to load. Some people are giving up and going away before they do 🙁 But they’re working on it. Yes, a feature list would have been good. I’m not sorry to see the points go away, though. It wasn’t necessary. Have a great weekend Barbara!
Lori And good morning to you! I love the beginning of a new day turning a new page.As I mostly work in the kitchen where my internet connection is really lousy I do not mind waiting (I was not even aware of the long loading time), I can start formulating my comment in my mind … but you are right it is annoying!I took yesterday off and went to the farmer market and a long walk with Chica, great for recharging my batteries! Today is catching up day … and an early family dinner. Have a lovely weekend, Lori!
How interesting and what a challenge jelly making is! I watched my mother in law do it for years and NEVER mastered it. 😀 My two favorite that she made were blackberry jam and pear preserves. The blackberries were picked by us and the pears had to be a certain kind that would stay firm and chewy…oh lord I could eat til I burst when she made those…I miss those days. 🙂
jonesbabie Hi Cathy, you bring back memories of my mother making jelly in summer: she used an upturned stool fixing a piece of cheese cloth at its four legs and poured the fruit mixture in it in order to retain only the juice. I miss those days too, life seemed so easy and carefree, did it not? Thanks for sharing this, Cathy.And now a lovely weekend lies ahead of us, I do not promise anything but I know for sure: I will come and visit your place!
Oh wow, this is beautiful Barbara! I’ve never attempted gelée, but this looks like a wonderful way to try it. It’s gorgeous even with the petals sinking down farther than you would have liked. 🙂
annedreshfield Hi Anne! You really make my day, here I am worrying about how to make a perfect gelée and fussing about those darn rose petals. You are so right, thank you so much for putting things into perspective!
Nice! I have never attempted this. My mom makes something similar. It has layers of rose petals with sugar and lemon juice. I don’t think it is a gelée but its something gel like! And yes, Happy Birthday! Are your friends gifting you another vacation? 😉
Hajra Hi Hajra! Will you ask your mom how she makes it, this sounds very interesting, maybe she would like to give you the recipe (hint hint). Thanks for the birthday wishes, haha, not another vacation but they invited me to an open air concert of ZAZ, a French singer, next weekend. Now I will have to start practising as we always sing along!
Do you know the ‘language’ of flowers? Looks like there are the flavors as well, huh? Nice pics…..
bdorman264 Do you not speak flower? Amazing what they can tell you, just like in social, have you not ever listened to a rose – they have a high selfesteem like an A-lister, or take a daisy, always asking for approval and nodding its head, or a clematis climbing up a wall, exploiting every nook and cranny. We could really learn a lot from them!Haha, Bill, thanks, like always it is a pleasure talking with you, have a great weekend and take a minute to listen to the hydrangea in your garden!
I can smell the roses through my computer screen; lovely! Who knew about rose gelée? Sounds delightful.
sweepyjean Hi, Adrienne, and a lovely Sunday morning to you! I love that you can smell the roses through your screen – now that would be quite an invention, on the other hand I am not so sure I want to smell everything! Well, I did not know about rose gelée either, wish I could give you some to taste right here!
Barbara, it looks fantastic! I wouldn’t have the patience to do half of what you do! I could smell the roses when I was typing!
JSJ2020 Thank you so much, Muriel! Can you believe that I am always thinking about the other half of the stuff which I have not done yet?
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Oops, all my replies to your lovely comments have disappeared! I will switch back to the “old” version of Livefyre till they have sorted out the Beta version!
and – miracle, miracle! – here they are again! Sometimes it is good to stay with the old and proven things!
Hi everybody, Roses are the perfect flowers in every condition, They are nice looking, great colors, Specially red one is awesome, I am just going to send this flowers to my friend, Kindly recommend from where i could get the best.