Enjoy as a treat for a summer cream tea, spoon over ice cream or spread on a simple Victoria sponge. Choose rich, red heavily scented roses. Pick the flowers in full bloom and remove the petals from the flowers. Snip off the white bases and discard.
Ingredients
- 225g (8oz) of rose petals
- 450g (1lb) sugar
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1.1 litres (2 pints) water
Method
- Place the petals in a large bowl or pan. Add about half of the sugar, stir vigorously to bruise the petals and distribute the sugar. Cover and leaveovernight to draw the fragrance from the petals.
- Pour the water and lemon juice into a heavy based pan. Stir in the rest of the sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Do not boil.
- Add the rose petals into the pan and stir gently. Continue heating gently and allow to simmer quietly for 20 minutes. Then raise the cooking heat and boil for 5 minutes until it starts to thicken. Bottle into sterilised jars and allowed to cool.
- Enjoy.
