Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY(January 19, 2010)... Pretend its Monday

Outside my window... Gray skies and clouds - supposed to start raining later this evening. I can sure tell, my feet and hands are aching - I have early arthritis

I am thinking... of how lovely it will be when Spring arrives

I am thankful for...the day off today. It is now Friday!

From the kitchen... Roast Chicken, potatoes, broccoli and cheese, wheat rolls

I am wearing... jammies!

I am creating... a tax return!

I am going... to hopefully take my little great-niece to McDonald's for lunch later today

I am reading... 14,000 things to be happy about

I am hoping... that my dear SIL has a speedy recovery from back surgery

I am hearing...the quiet hum of the 'puter

Around the house...sweep and mop, vacuum, straighten up kitchen cabinets

One of my favorite things... sending something to someone - "just because"

A few plans for the rest of the week: Well, off today, work the weekend, off Monday

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

A little gray squirrel we have - not sure if you can tell, but his ears are white!



And now for those pickles I was telling you about!

Jane Maynard Pickles

Hot, sweet, dilly, garlicky and incredibly crisp - oh Mamma!

My boss brought some of these to work and I fell in absolute love with them! Everyone who tries them likes them - if you like sweet pickles that is!

Our local coffeeshop serves a similar pickle with their lunch sandwiches - they are sooo good. I asked them how they made theirs and it involved a 5-gallon bucket of pickles! While not up to making THAT many at a time, I do the following recipe by the 2 quart, 1 pint jars.

Anyway, these are a cinch to make and very, very tasty - by themselves, on a relish tray, on sandwiches . . . . I am looking to try some in potato salad later this year.

First, take a jar of pickles. The amounts I am going to give you are for a gallon jar of pickles. You want whole dills. I use Vlasic, they have them in the bulk foods section at our local Wal-Mart. The jars I get are just over half a gallon. (I am going to post the amounts I use for the 2 quart,1 pint jars below.)

Drain off the juice, reserving 1-2/3 cups of the juice. Remove pickles from the jar and slice into 1/4 inch slices. Or spears. Or cubes. Or however you like them. Put the reserved juice back in the jar. Add 6 cloves of garlic, chopped, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons hot sauce (I use Tabasco) and 7 cups of sugar. Stir it vigorously. Yes, it will be a sludge. It should look like the picture below.



Now, take the sliced pickles and put them back in the jar, mushing them down a bit as you go. Yes, they will all fit. Yes, they will fill the jar. First time I thought - no way those sliced pickles are going to take as much room as the whole ones. Silly me. Then when putting them in the jar I thought - oh dear, are they all going to fit? Silly me again! Here are my sliced pickles.



Now, put the lid on the jar and roll it around. I just rolled it around on my lap until the sugar was good and dissolved. Otherwise, and this is what the original recipe says to do, lay the jar on its side on the cabinet and roll it occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. I will tell you if you decide to do this - get your hubby to tighten the lid, because mine leaked a bit. I made several jars of these for Christmas presents - my total cost was around $5 a jar.

You need to let these season for at least 2 weeks before eating.

They are edible after 1 week, but oh, so much better after 2. Just let the jar sit on the counter and stir every once in a while. If you are making them to give away, you better make 2 jars - one for you and one for who you are giving them to. Just telling you - they are that good, you will want them all for yourself.



Amounts for the smaller jars:

juice - 3/4 plus 1/3 cup
garlic - 4 cloves
red pepper flakes - 1/2 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon
Tabasco - 1-1/4 teaspoons
sugar - 4-1/4 plus 1/8 cup

got daybook?

Tomato Preserves

Back in my Grandma's day, nothing went to waste. They made do with what they had. I remember Grandma making these with the little yellow pear tomatoes. She could not tolerate a lot of acid, so the yellow tomatoes were her favorite. This is pretty made with yellow tomatoes, but I did not have enough of the yellow ones. I used some what are called "pineapple tomatoes". They are yellow and red striped, I think an heirloom variety. To have enough tomatoes, I did add some regular red ones, so mine turned out orangey in color.

This is so good. Tomatoes are technically a fruit! A lot of people are disbelieving when you tell them what it is, tho! This can also be made with green tomatoes.

Just imagine - hot, crusty, fluffy buttermilk biscuits fresh from the oven on a snowy day. Slather on some butter and then a smear of tomato preserves - suddenly you are transported back to summer, hot, hazy with the drone of insects in your ear.

Tomato Preserves
6 half-pints

1-1/2 quarts peeled, small yellow, green or red tomatoes (about 2 lb)
1 Tablespoon mixed pickling spices
1 (1/2 inch piece) gingerroot
4 cups sugar
1 cup thinly sliced lemon (about 2 medium)
3/4 cup water

Wash and drain tomatoes. Tie spices and gingerroot in a spice bag - we have a big teaball with a flat bottom, so that is what I used. Combine spice bag, sugar, lemon and water in large sauce pot. Simmer 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, cook gently until tomatoes become transparent, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 12-18 hours in a cool place. Remove spice bag. Remove tomatoes and lemon from syrup. Boil syrup 2-3 minutes or longer to thicken. Return tomatoes and lemon to syrup, boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot preserves into hot, clean jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 20 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

This recipe from the Ball Blue Book.

Skald the Dawg

Sorry for being absent yesterday, things have been a little discombobulated around here. We have bought a house! Whoo Hoo! A very nice, 3 bedroom raised ranch in a nice part of town, right at the edge of town in fact. Our back yard abuts the town soccer field. There is corps of engineer land across the road, so it is all undeveloped and pretty. Very quiet, just my style. The house was a bank repo, so a very good price, we got it for about $20,000 less than normal. The basement is unfinished, but that is ok, we can do what we want to with it! It has room for a nice large utility room down there as well as room for another bedroom or family room. I think we are going to put in another bedroom so DS can have his own privacy as it were. It has a nice big back deck, not a lot of yard (yay, less mowing).

Here are a couple of pics, one from the front and one from the back:






Anyway . . .

Relish. Most people like relish. Some people do not. Until just a few years ago, I was in the latter category. Could not stomach the stuff. Now that I have made it a few times, I have changed my mind about that. This recipe that I am going to give you is a mix-n-match recipe. I was making some bread and butter jalapenos and I had about a gallon bag of sliced jalapenos and onions left over. Hmmmm . . . . Dad was wanting some sort of picallili, so Mom and I got our heads together, looked to see what we had to work with (besides the jalapenos and onions) and this is what we came up with. It is sweet, spicey and has just a bit of a kick to it. We love it on hot dogs or in potato salad. Or on a sandwich.

Skald The Dawg Relish
Amounts given here are approximate!

1-1/2 quarts sliced jalapeno peppers
3 medium onions, sliced
6 medium green tomatoes, chopped
1 small-to-medium head of cabbage, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (for color)
1/4 cup salt
5-1/2 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
4 tablespoons whole mixed pickling spices

Grind jalapenos, onions, green tomatoes, cabbage and red peppers in food processor.
Place in bowl, sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let sit 12 hours.
Drain well. Push down on veggies to get excess water out.

In large pot, mix sugar, vinegar and spices (in cheesecloth or spice ball). Bring to boil and simmer 15 minutes. Add veggies. Simmer for 10 minutes. Take pickling spices out. Pack in hot jars and hot-water bath for 10 minutes.

Cinnamon . . . Cucumbers?

Pickles. Those sweet or sour or salty cucumbers that you usually either love or hate. I like pickles and last year our 3 cucumber plants produced enough cucumbers that we made around 100 jars of pickles - sour, salty, dilly kosher dills, spicy bread and butter, old-fashioned sweet pickles and I made a batch of these. I can remember my Mom making these, and she did half of them green and half of them red. Oh, so pretty at Christmas time in a sparkling cut glass dish. They are crisp and most people think they are candied apples. They do take some time and some doing to make, but they are worth it, in my opinion.

Cinnamon Pickles

7 pounds peeled, seeded cucumbers in thick rings (I used an apple corer to take the seeds out)
1 cup pickling lime
1 gallon water

1 cup vinegar
1 bottle red food coloring
1 tablespoon alum
Enough water to cover pickles

3 cups vinegar
2 cups water
10 cups granulated sugar
2 to 3 large packages Red Hots cinnamon candies (see NOTE)
8 sticks cinnamon

Soak cucumbers, lime and 1 gallon water for 24 hours.

Wash cucumbers - be sure to wash them thoroughly, at least 3 times to get all of the lime off. Soak in ice water for 3 hours. Mix 1 cup vinegar, food coloring, alum and enough water to cover pickles. Simmer in this mixture 2 hours.

Pour off liquid and throw away. Boil 3 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, sugar, candies and cinnamon. Pour over cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours.

Drain liquid and bring to boil. Put cucumbers into jars with 1 to 2 sticks cinnamon in each jar. Pour hot liquid over jars and seal.

NOTE: This information is from Yvonne in Mississippi.

DO NOT use red hots candy that lists cornstarch as an ingredients. They will not work for this recipes. The brand to use is Farley's which uses sucrose, corn syrup, artificial flavor, red 40 and beeswax. This will work great and the pickles will be free of white matter after processing is done.

These can also be ordered from the Cane & Reed Company in Connecticut. Phone number is 1 860 646-6586



These are good to make at the end of the year, and with fairly large cucumbers. The alum and lime crisps them up nicely, and you take the seeds out anyway. Wonderfully spicy at Christmas time and so pretty red. They go great with turkey sandwiches!

Recipe courtesy of That's My Home recipes.

Minty fresh

No, I am not selling toothpaste! But I do like the taste of mint. So cool and refreshing, like a cool ocean breeze on a hot summer's day, it is invigorating!

So this year we bought some peppermint. We had some for a while previously, but it got out of hand. Mint is a very hardy, aggressive plant. It is best to plant it in a container. But do not do as we did and just set the container on the grass. For if you do, it will drop seeds in the grass and then the central command (mint in the container) will send its troops (mint seedlings) marching across the yard to declare war on the zinnias, the tomatoes and the cucumbers. Really, it just goes wild.

We do have some chocolate mint, but it seems to be a little tamer than regular mint. If you have never tried it, please consider doing so. It smells just like a York Peppermint Pattie when you crush the leaves. Yum!

So I had to wait until the mint was big enough to use, we bought just a small plant. I had been intrigued by the idea of making my own mint jelly (ok, so I am a weirdo). It is delish!

Mint Jelly
I got 5 half-pints

1 1/2 cups fresh mint, washed and packed (I used a combination of chocolate mint and peppermint)
3 1/4 cups water
2-3 drops green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 (1 3/4 ounce) box pectin
4 cups granulated sugar

Crush mint leaves (I did a rough chop). Add water. Bring to a boil.

Remove from heat, cover and let stand 10 minutes. Strain and measure 3 cups of mint infusion. Take a big sniff to clear your sinuses - works waaaaaaay better than Vicks VapoRub!

Add food coloring and lemon juice. Add Sure-Jell, dissolve and bring to a rapid boil.

Add sugar. Cook fast, stirring occasionally until it comes to a rapid boil that cannot be stirred down, then cook 1 minute more.

Skim foam off.

Pour into sterilized jelly jars and seal. I processed in the hot water bath canner for 10 minutes to insure a good seal.




Mine turned out a bit darker than I thought it should, but a lot of my mint leaves were rather dark, kind of purply.

Great with lamb, but I am thinking to use it in some baking . . . hmmmmmm!

Almonds

I love almonds. And almond flavored-things.

I am not a big nut lover, but there is just something about the flavor of an almond. Here is what I found out about almonds:

Apparently, botanically speaking, an almond is not a nut, but a drupe! Wild almonds originated somewhere in the Middle East, where they grow in abundance. Wild almonds are toxic - they contain prussic acid or cyanide (apparently if you roast them they are ok). But the domestic ones do not. Some argue that it is a genetic mutantion that causes them to be non-toxic. They were first grown unintentionally. Almonds were one of the earliest domesticated trees.

Almonds are grown in the USA, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Iran, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Tuninsia, Greece, Lebanon, China.

There are 2 forms of the plant - one (usually with white flowers) producing sweet almonds and the other (usually with pink flowers) producing bitter almonds. The bitter almonds are the ones which contain cyanaide, sometimes as much as 9 mg per almond!

Almonds are great, almost no carbs at all. 1 cup of almond flour contains 20 grams of carbs, but 10 grams of fiber for a net of 10 carbs.

Sweet almond oil is high in Omega-3 and is used in many skin-softening agents. Jaffra has a line of almond products that are W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!

The Hebrew name for almond means industrious or vigilant and they bloom sometimes as early as February in Israel. In the Bible the almond is mentioned ten times, beginning with Book of Genesis 43:11, where it is described as "among the best of fruits". In Numbers 17 Levi is chosen from the other tribes of Israel by Aaron's rod, which brought forth almond flowers. According to tradition, the rod of Aaron bore sweet almonds on one side and bitter on the other; if the Israelites followed the Lord, the sweet almonds would be ripe and edible, but if they were to forsake the path of the Lord, the bitter almonds would predominate.

Wow! Almonds are the way to go! At least, I think so! So, without further ado . . .

Almond Syrup
About 3 cups

Ok, strictly speaking, this is not exactly a canning recipe, as you do not hot-water-bath it. But work with me here . . .

1-1/2 cups whole almonds, blanched and skinned (I used blanched, slivered almonds)
2 Tablespoons almond extract
2-1/2 cups cold water
1-3/4 cups sugar

Grind almonds roughly in a food processor. Place in a pan with the almond extract and stir in the water. Add the sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes, then strain through a linen bag. Pour into hot, sterilized bottles and cork immediately. Store in the fridge for up to 6 months.

Now, it being early morning when I made this, I just dumped my slivered almonds in and did not bother grinding them. I strained it thru cheesecloth and I put the syrup in hot 1/4 pint jars and put lids and rings on them.




Then . . . . I had 5 jars of almond syrup, but what to do with my left over syrup and the almonds . . . the wheels started turning, so I put some foil on a pan and sprayed it with cooking spray. Then I dumped the almonds on the foil and ladled the remaining syrup on top and stuck it in the oven for a while on about 300F. The almonds got nice and glazed. Then I dumped them out onto waxed paper and left them to dry. Now, I have nice almond-glazed almonds to top off my baked goods.

Red Onion . . . Marmelade?

Yes, Red Onion Marmelade! I have been intrigued with making some red onion jam/marmelade ever since I read about it in a book by Diane Mott Davidson - Sticks and Scones. It is a murder mystery involving Goldy Schultz, a caterer. Takes place in a castle, very intriguing book!

Last year, I made some and froze it - I do not recommend that way of preserving it, the onions go very mushy. Although, it works wonders for French Onion Soup!

So this year, I came across a brilliant recipe, very easy and I made it.

Red Onion Marmelade

I believe I got 5 half-pints out of this.

1 orange
3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red onions
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (85 ml) envelope liquid pectin

With vegetable peeler, peel rind from orange in long strips. Scrape off white pith from rind; slice rind lengthwise into paper-thin strips. Set aside. In large saucepan, bring orange strips, sugar, onion, vinegar and salt to boil; boil for 1 minute. Stir in liquid pectin, mixing well. Remove from heat.

Using slotted spoon, divide onion and orange rind among three 1-cup (250 mL) hot canning jars. Pour in liquid, leaving 1/4-inch (5 mm) headspace. Cover with prepared lids; screw on bands fingertip tight. Boil in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Let jars stand on rack until cool. Store in cool dark place for up to 1 year.

Variation: Pepper and Red Onion Marmalade: Add 1/2 tsp (2 mL) coarsely ground black pepper or hot red pepper flakes.




It is a very lovely color, so pretty, this picture does not do it justice! This is great on sandwiches, over top of cream cheese with crackers, or try it when making chicken salad, mix with a little mayo . . .

Next week will be almond syrup - can be used a myriad of ways - try making an italian soda with it!

Tangerine Jelly

Time for another canning recipe! This time, brilliant orangeness with tangerine jelly. If you like orange marmelade, you will like this. It has layers of flavor as well as a brilliant, almost glowing orange color.

I have discovered as well that I think I like working with powdered pectin better than I do the liquid pectin. Sets up much nicer.

This is a Recipezaar recipe, posted by DiB's.

Tangerine Jelly
I got 6 half-pints, plus almost enough for another

6 cups chopped tangerines, pulp, around 4 lb
1 cup chopped lemon, pulp (2-3 large lemons)
1/2 cup thinly sliced tangerine peel (about 4 tangerines)
1 cup water
1 (1-3/4 ounce) package dry pectin
5 cups white sugar

Now, tangerines are usually only found around here at Christmas time. So, instead I found a lovely bottle of tangerine juice that I used. I did chop up about 4 oranges and the lemon and used orange peel and it worked great. You need 4 cups of juice and the bottle was a quart, so perfect!

Combine pulps, peel and water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain juice through a damp jelly bag. Measure 4 cups of juice. Combined the juice and powered pectin in a large pan. Over high heat bring to a boil. Add sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath canner.

Voila! Day-Glo jelly!



For those of you who read Jan Bennett's blog - next week I am posting a red onion marmelade recipe! (She posted about an appetizer using red onion jam!)

Chocolate Cherry Jam

I apologize for being absent. I honestly was going to post yesterday and had a nasty migraine.

Several of you have shown interest in my mention of chocolate cherry jam. As you know, I belong to Recipezaar. It is a great place to find ALL kinds of recipes! While surfing thru the canning recipes, I stumbled upon this one. I was very intrigued, so here it is!

My instructions are for American canning equipment, which I understand is quite different from European.

This smells heavenly, like a box of chocolate covered cherries!

Chocolate Cherry Jam
I got 8 half-pint jars plus probably enough to fill another, but you gotta sample!

6 cups prepared fruit (Bing cherries) - pitted, cut up and smooshed - measure after pitting, cutting and smooshing
3 unsweetened chocolate squares (3 oz)
4 cups granulated sugar
1 box Sure-Jell
1/2 teaspoon butter

Pit cherries, cut and smoosh. I used a potato masher to smoosh them. This is messy, so my advice is put the bowl down in a sink. Otherwise you will have cherry juice all over your shirt. Also, it tends to stain hands and fingernails, so beware. Or you could just buy them frozen and save yourself the trouble! If using frozen, use both liquids and solids, don't drain.



Ok, that is a horrible pic, but you get the idea??

Anyway, put them in a large (6-8 quart) heavy saucepan. Add chocolate and butter. Measure 3-3/4 cups sugar into a bowl. Just before cooking, stir remaining 1/4 cup sugar together with the Sure-Jell. Stir into pan. Bring rapidly to a boil. As soon as it boils, add the remaining sugar. Bring back to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Ladle into pint or half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.




That is it. In no time, you will have delicious chocolate cherriness! I am thinking this will be great over top of ice cream!

There is nothing more satisfying than that little "schnick" when those lids seal!

Luna Moth Jelly

No, not really. But it has the same color as a luna moth. There are some things in this world that the color is just kind of indefinable. So this recipe has been dubbed luna moth jelly. For the color, I assure you, not the ingredients.

I would imagine that you could put this in all sorts of things.

Lime Jelly
Makes about 5-6 half-pint jars

2 1/2 cups prepared lime juice (6 to 8 limes)
4 cups sugar
1 drop green food coloring
1 (3 ounce) envelope liquid pectin

Grate the peel of 5 of the limes; set aside. Squeeze enough juice from 6 to 8 of the limes to measure 3/4 cup; pour juice into medium bowl. Add lime peel and 1-3/4 cups water; mix well. Place three layers of damp cheesecloth over a medium bowl. Pour juice mixture into cheesecloth. Tie it closed and let drip into bowl until dripping stops, about 10-15 minutes. Press gently. Measure exactly 2-1/2 cups prepared juice into a 6-quart pan.

Stir sugar into the juice in the pan. Add food coloring if desired (this is what gives it that color - but only 1 drop).

Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute. Skim off any foam.

Ladle into jars, seal and process 8 minutes in boiling water bath.

This recipe was originally posted by Kathy228 on Recipezaar.

Voila - you have beautiful jelly!



This picture really does not do it justice, it kind of, I don't know, glows!

Sorry for the short post today, I am rushing!

Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent.

First of all, I would like to thank so many of you for inquiring about/commenting on my making rosewater. Actually it is quite easy to do, providing you have access to some fragrant roses that are not sprayed with pesticide. All of the rain we have gotten this year has been bad for somethings, such as the farmers not being able to get crops in, but for the flowers it has been a blessing. Never have our flowers been as pretty as they were this year. We have 3 big pink rosebushes, and they have went crazy this year. There are new shoots almost as high as the house! They had an abundance of blossoms, so to make good use of them, I made some things. Yes, we made some bouquets and such, but I also made some rose petal jam and made some rosewater.



True friendship is like a rose. We can't realize it's beauty until it fades.”

Roses are amazing flowers. I have an allergy to a lot of fresh flowers, but roses do not seem to bother me as much. I do not know if the tradition still exists, but I was born in Germany, and back then anyway, when a baby girl was born, you got pink rosebuds. Some neighbors brought my Mom some and we of course have pictures and I still have the vase. Now and then I will buy pink roses at Aldi's - they have beautiful roses there very cheap - and enjoy them for a bit. Maybe that has influenced me to the point that pink roses are my favorite flowers?? Hmmm . . . probably just a bit!



Rosewater

1 liter mineral water (I could not find this, so I used distilled water. I think the basic idea here is to not have any other tastes that would come thru)
3 large handfuls of fresh, organic rose petals - as for this I had the colander in the picture above FULL of roses - I probably used 1/2 to 3/4 of the roses. Just pluck the petals off

Place the petals in a large sauce pan. Pour the water over. You want your water steaming, but not boiling. Let cook until water is reduced by about half. Strain off petals. Place rosewater in a sterile jar and store in the refrigerator.

It is that easy, Angie!! You all were close when you were kids, just needed to cook it a bit!

Rosewater can be used as a flavoring for baklava, cookies, many different things.

Love in the Air

Romance. Giddy laughter. Soft whispers. Moonlight. Silk. A tiny bite of something special. Chocolate. Lace. Roses. Yes, especially roses.



As you can see, our rose bushes were absolutely loaded this year.

As many of you know, I belong to Recipezaar, the best recipe spot on the 'net. (Shamless plug!) Anyway, there is a fantastic lady who posts on there as French Tart. She has THE MOST GORGEOUS RECIPES. I don't know how she does it! So she posted this recipe and I just had to have a try.

It is absolutely without a doubt one of THE most sensual recipes a person could ever have the pleasure to make.

Picking roses under the warm spring sun, while being serenaded by a birdie orchestra with a background accompaniment of buzzing honeybees. All the while, the scent of the roses wafting on a light breeze that playfully ruffles your hair as it wends its lazy way past.

Then, as you pull the petals from the roses, their scent again envelops you, while their soft, silken petals slide softly over your fingers.

Then the smell of roses wafting through the house as you cook the jam, the smell lingers for hours, much better than any potpurri. The color! I used pink roses because that is what I had, but red would be gorgeous and even yellow would be pretty. Or the peachy colored ones!

Then, after putting it in jars, the satisfying sound of the little "schnick" when they seal - music to my ears! Then the sight of it in the jar, ruby red and glistening, calling out to you to open the jar and let the magic loose!



Anyway, this is just a fantastic recipe! A must try, just make sure that your roses are not sprayed with pesticides or anything.

My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose: Rose Petal Jam by French Tart
Mine made 3 1/2 pint jars

Ingredients
1 pint boiling water
1 lb strongly scented freshly picked red rose petal
1 lb caster sugar (for Americans, superfine sugar)
2 limes, juice of
2 lemon, juice of
2-3 drops rose water, 2-3 drops (optional)



Directions
Fill a large pan with the boiling water. Add half the rose petals, cover and leave to stand for two hours.

After two hours strain off the liquid and transfer to a clean pan. Discard the steeped rose petals.

Add the sugar to the rosewater and stir over a low heat until dissolved. Add the lime juice and remaining rose petals, reserving a handful for later.

Bring to boiling point, reduce the heat and simmer until setting point is reached. To test for this, pour a little onto a cold saucer. Push it gently with your finger. If it wrinkles, it is ready. If not continue to simmer for a little longer.

Add remaining rose petals and simmer gently for another three minutes then pour into a sterilised jar and seal. The rose petals should rise to the top leaving clear jelly underneath.

Pot and cover the jam.

Chef's tip.
You’ll need to sterilise the jars or your jam will go mouldy. Wash them thoroughly in warm, clean, soapy water, drain upside down on kitchen towel and place on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 140C/fan120C/gas 1 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven to its lowest setting and keep the jars inside while you make the jam.

This is her recipe, I made just as above, but used american canning jars and then hot-water bathed it for 5 minutes. They all sealed fine.



The picture does not do this justice at all, it is so lovely.

A big thank you to FT for allowing me to post this on here!

Go on, make some romance!

Until Monday!