Tea Rooms - Preserved Rose Petals ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Preserving the bounty from your garden is a time-honoured skill.  And preserving the fragrance, colour and flavour of rose petals will add an extra dimension to your favourite recipes... 

Sweet little morsels of dark red and pink Preserved Rose Petals are easy to make and keep indefinitely.  Because of our humidity I like to keep these refrigerated. (Unlike some recipes for rose petal preserve, this is not a paste but a delicious concoction of candied rose petals.)

These sweet preserves can be used to add a lovely dash of rose flavour and colour to lots of well loved deserts, or you may like to invent additional uses for these little jewels.

Here are a few suggestions ...  

Sprinkle your Preserved Rose Petals over home-made vanilla ice-cream; fold through whipped cream with strawberries, swirl through a luscious egg custard.   Top an iced cup cake with a few bright pink rose petals, or add them to a baked rhubarb tart.  They also add a special touch to chocolate mousse and can be used as a special ingredient in rich, gooey chocolate brownies.   

As in all recipes using rose petals – use only pesticide free roses, rinse under cool running water and snip off the bitter white base of the rose petals before use. 

Preserved Rose Petals

Ingredients:

Rose petals drained from the Rose Petal Syrup (If you have not made Rose Petal Syrup you will need to follow the recipe posted previously).

To make:
Take your drained rose petals (that have been soaking in the sugar syrup - Do NOT skip this step) and place in a small heavy based saucepan.  Do not add extra liquid.  Place the saucepan over a low to moderate heat.   

Using a wooden spoon, stir the rose petals briskly.  As you stir, press the rose petals against the base and sides of the pan with the wooden spoon.    The heat will aid the breaking down process but prevent the petals forming a paste. (Your kitchen will be filled with the most amazing rosie aroma.)  

As the rose petals shrivel and darken they will start to clump loosely.  This will take from 5 to 7 minutes, depending on the rose petals you used (some rose petals are thicker than others and will take longer).  It is at this stage that you can take the pan off the heat and allow to cool.  Do not add a lid  as this will form droplets of water as the petals cool and will spoil the preserving process.

Once the petals are cool, store them in a sterilised glass jar.  Your rose petals will keep their bright colour and fragrance with a sweet, rosie flavour.  

Serve in a pretty china dish as an exotic sprinkle for your favourite desert.

For a touch of luxury for the health conscious, add Preserved Rose Petals to a ‘healthy’ desert of chia seed soaked in chilled almond milk.

Delicious ...