KNOCKOUT ROSE PETAL JELLY...

I figured as long as we are still living at our current house I might as well make good use of all the goodies we have around here....and we have an abundance of roses right now.  Knockout roses!  Now the normal person would simply stick a few stems in a vase here and there to enjoy their beauty indoors but not me.  I had something different in mind for my roses.  ROSE PETAL JELLY!

Did you know roses are edible?  Yes they are...even the Knockout Rose variety.  Now while I don't go around noshing on roses all the day long, I figured I could handle some sweet rose jelly.

To make my jelly, I gathered up a large bowl of fresh roses...

Washed and rinsed them well in cool water and then de-petaled them...

I needed 2 full cups of petals for my jelly.

Once I had what I needed I rinsed them again and put them in a pot with 2 1/4 cups of water and simmered for 5-10 minutes.  Most people clip the white ends off their rose petals before use because they tend to be a little bitter but I tasted one of my petals and they did not need clipped as they were not bitter.

While they were simmering, I put a few pretty little jars and lids in a water bath to sterilize them...

After the roses had simmered for a while, I strained the liquid off...

Isn't that gorgeous???

Some people use the petals and all in their jam, which I think would be lovely, but I decided that I wanted jelly and not jam; therefore, I left the petals out of my recipe.

I added the liquid back to my sauce pan with 4 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1 package pectin powder, stirring until everything was dissolved,

Then brought it up to a rolling boil

Now on a little side note, your more fragrant rose varieties have more flavor.  Knockouts don't have much fragrance so they are pretty much flavorless.  However, I remedied that in my recipe with 7 drops rose essential oil.

I could've also used Rose water but I didn't have any of that on hand.

On another little side note, true Pure Rose Oil is EXTREMELY expensive...$100.00 or more per ounce.  I didn't have that on hand either for obvious reasons so I used a rose oil blend which is simply a small amount of pure rose oil blended with a carrier oil, which was pretty inexpensive.  You have to use a little more because it is so diluted but works well over all.

I boiled everything for 1-2 minutes and them removed from the heat.  I filled 4 sterilized jars with the jelly, reserving out a little to try right away...put the lids and rings on and then inverted them for five minutes to achieve a seal.

Let them set overnight and I have four gorgeous jars of Knockout Rose Petal Jelly...

YUMMMMM!!!

Recipe:

2 full packed cups rose petals (any kind)
2 1/4 C. water
4 C. sugar
1/4 C. lemon juice
1 packet pectin powder (1.75 oz.)
7-10 drops rose essential oil

I am going to attack our ginormous MINT bush next....Mint jelly anyone?