Flowers in my plate!
Old-fashioned roses and intensely aromatic citrus blossoms make delicious preserves
I admit that the color of both the rose petal and the citrus blossom preserves is not inviting; but I urge you to trust me when I say that their taste and aroma is beguiling!
Scroll down to read my first attempt to make this very aromatic citrus blossom jelly.
Our kitchen is once more filled with the haunting, sensual aroma of roses, and although I try, I cannot remember for what reason during my childhood I so hated rose petal jam. I had probably associated it with endless and boring visits to monasteries on family excursions throughout Greece. Nuns traditionally prepare and offer visitors a spoonful of sickenly sweet rodozahari (rose petal jam), which I usually declined to taste.
Not until I visited Morocco in the early ‘90s did I finally lay the ghost of my youth-trauma hatred of rose petal jam and rose water. Moroccan sweets, but also the savory dishes scented with rose petals, were a revelation to me, and even made me wish I had tasted rodozhari on some of those monastery visits.
I learned that Armenian monks on the Venetian island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni prepare a wonderful rose petal jam, as Emiko Davis writes. His recipe is somewhat different from mine; rose petal jam, at least the one I have seen and tasted, are not that vividly pink as in his pictures, unless one uses artificial coloring. My jam, from our pink fragrant roses is a somewhat light amber concoction. Maybe, next time I would experiment adding a piece of beet to make it red.
For many years since we moved to Kéa we tried to cultivate the heirloom fragrant roses in our garden – Rosa Damascena and other related antique rose varieties – but our dry climate and poor soil has made it very difficult to produce enough roses and petals to make the jam. One day our late neighbor Giorgis Stefas made us a pot from his old rose bush, which Costas divided into three thriving bushes the year after. Now we enjoy the wonderful flowers and finally gather quite a few fragrant rose petals to make a small batch of Rose Petal Jam.
Even if you have just a few roses you can complement them with good quality organic dried rose petals, together with some good rosewater, as I had done for many years, in order to make a cup of hauntingly aromatic jam to serve with fresh cheese, with ice cream, or yogurt, and especially complement the light Yogurt Mousse that our guests love. Also easily whip up the refreshing Pomegranate and Rose Petal Granita.
The frozen pomegranate juice produced on Kea had inspired me to first make a granita/sorbet adding just syrup scented with the rose geranium leaves from our garden. Then I decided to pair it with our Rose Petal Jam, even with leftover jars made a few seasons ago.
Tasting them I found that they were still nicely fragrant, although their color had darkened somewhat. ‘Why don’t I use these, together with pomegranate juice to make a rose-scented granita,’ I thought, and so this one was created. You may need to add more good quality rose water, depending on the fragrance of the rose petal jam you use.
For the citrus blossom preserves I improvised trying to preserve their incredible aroma in a jar. I collected flowers everyday for almost a week, keeping them in the fridge immersed in a bowl of water. When the trees ceased to be filled with blossoms, I made a simple syrup with 2 cups sugar and equal amount of the water I kept the blossoms in, reserving 1/2 cup sugar to mix with the powdered pectin. I briefly simmered the petals and tiny stems, then added almost a cup of lemon juice and the pectin-sugar mixture, and soon the syrup thickened, and I filled small jars with the jellied preserves.
The problem is that the petals and stems are quite hard and somewhat bitter, but the jelly is incredibly delicious and aromatic. Maybe next time I have to simmer the petals separately to soften before adding the sugar, but would they then retain that exquisite aroma? I think it might be better to discard the blossoms and keep just the fragrant jelly in jars.
A loved reading in my favorite
newsletter the piece about the unforgettable Judith Rogers.
Zaytinya chef Michael Costa had a turmeric shot in Miami, in a very rare quiet moment, just before he tended to his five-hour spit-roasted lamb, THE best I have ever tasted, at the Miami Zaytinya party last month, celebrating the book!
In case you missed it, I think you would love to read in the NY Times about the rare sea-snail that gave the ancient Mediterraneans the much sought-after purple dye, as “archaeologists have revealed a major production site for one of history’s most luxurious, and smelliest, colorants..”
I usually collect blossoms in a jar with sugar (layered under and over them) then process when the jar is full! Often there’s enough water in the petals that you don’t have to add any. 🌸