Rose Petal and Orange Flower Jam/Confiture à la Rose et à la Fleur d'Oranger

Rose Petal Jam

I was trying to find another reason not to do housework and found it in the Rose Petal and Orange Flower Jam. Actually I wanted to make Filo Cigars with them as once again I have bought filo pastry for no rhyme or reason and its expiry date is drawing near. But I remembered that my oven is not working only once I've started to cook it, so now I'm stuck with a jar of very sweet, fragrant and diabetes-inducing jam.

What you need :

150g of untreated Rose Petals (or 8 Tsp Rose Water and a few drops of red food colouring)

50g Orange Flowers (or 2 Tsp Fleur d'Oranger extract)

250g granulated Sugar (good for making jam with)

250ml Water

1-2 Lemons

Zest from half a lemon

Boil the rose petals and orange flowers in the water till the colour is drained out of them. Remove the flora (if you want to you may reserve the rose petals and add them in the jam during the jarring) and add in the sugar and the juice from the lemons. Stir till the sugar is dissolved. Add in the lemon zest (which together with the lemon juice serve as natural pectin but if you want a thicker jam or if you're using only the essences you'll have to add in pectin or stuff like Sure-Jell) and bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Leave it boiling for a minute or so and then turn off the heat. Makes one jar.

Filo Cigars