Your roses sound beautiful, nancedar - good enough to eat. I noticed today that the wild multiflora roses are blooming everywhere. I was planning to make jelly using those this summer and was looking for recipes to use. I had settled on one using the link below that also calls for using lemon juice.

This is what the recipe says for making the juice: "Boil water and steep petals/herb leaves overnight, one cup boiling water per one cup petals/leaves. The next day, strain the infusion through cheesecloth to get a clear liquid." Were you going to add lemon juice to your rose petal jelly?

Here is a link that might be useful: petal jelly recipe

Nancy, I'm usually just a lurker here since I don't do any canning, but I couldn't pass this post up. My mother & grandmother regularly made rose petal jam. It was a skill my grandmother brought with her from Greece. I loved it's perfumy taste.

No matter where she lived, my mother always had one special rose in the garden with deep, dark petals. She'd gather them up and make the jam. She'd always add some rose water to it too.

However, I've never tried making the jam myself. Just recently I ordered some from Amazon that was very similar to what my mom made.

The reason I responded to your post is because I have my mother's typed recipe. Bear in mind, that's it's a very old recipe -- probably dating back to the 60s. Perhaps it would give you an idea of what to look for in a more current version.

The end result was a delicious sweet jam for breakfast toast. The addition of rose water gave it a definite rose flavoring. I've eaten other commercial rose jams that were sickeningly sweet but with no pronounced rose flavor. I think that's what happens if the rose water is omitted.

ROSE JAM
Andonia Zografos

Select fresh petals of bright red roses. Cut away any white spots. With a scissors cut petals in small strips. Wash and drain. Measure 2 cups roses, packed down fully in cup. Add 1 1/2 cups water and boil together for about 10 mins. Must have at least 1 1/2 cups roses. A little bit more or less won't make any difference.

Add 3 cups sugar and 1/2 lemon juice to roses. Bring to boil. At once stir in 1/2 bottle of Certo. Bring to rolling boil and boil for 1 min. Remove from fire and put in 1 tsp. of rose water. Skim off foam and put in jars.

Thank you - that is what I was looking for. Lemon juice is a must for any non-fruit, it also changes the color of an infusion which is like kitchen chemistry magic to me. I'm going to go pick right now and start snipping those petals.

Nancy

Please clarify how much lemon juice please. Thank You.
Tim

I'd think it is supposed to say juice of 1/2 a lemon. That is anywhere from 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. I'm going for the 1/4 cup because back then all you could get were very large lemons, as are those that grow in Greece.

The 1/2 bottle of Certo is one packet by today's packaging (3 ounces) where the bottles were 6 ounces.

The rose water gives the aroma and flavor, the petals give you the color.

I did find that grasping the rose around the base with the petal ends in your hand, you can cut off the petals without the white base (which is bitter) and then cut the rose stub and stem from the bush for compost. Be sure to remove the stamens too. And, silly me, remember to wash the petals AFTER you cut them up since they will stick to you like crazy when damp making them near nigh impossible to cut up. I really don't think it is necessary to cut the petals into less than 1/2" wide pieces - actually I just tore them up - it's the bruising to release the oils that cutting or tearing does for releasing it into the water.

By the way, don't make jam - the petals are ugly after boiling. Strain and use the infusion for your jelly.

I put mine in sterile 4 ounce jars and did BWB for 5 minutes.

Nancy