Rose Petal Jam

This rose petal jam is exactly as delicate as the rose petals are and even if there are people out there that have not heard of it, this jam IS in fact pretty common.
Takes but an hour OR SO to make and it lasts a long time in the fridge in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid.
Needless to say, goes on just about anything !
One of my fav thing to spread it on is a piece of toasted who wheat bread with no crust around the edges, but the BEST way to savor it is layered with some plain strained yogurt, or Greek style yogurt for that matter.

(The rose jam is on the slice on the right and on the other one there is some black cherry jam.)
But how about layering it in between some chocolate cake ? M m m good !

Ingredients:
1/2 lb petals or 250 gr or a large bowl full of fragrant rose petals, washed, and preferably with the white portion cut (I left the white portion in)


2-3 cups sugar, but I would try using a sugar substitute (!) (I am saying 2 to 3 cups because you should start with 2 and work your way up according to your own sweetness)
4 scant cups of water
juice of 1 medium-large lemon or lime and you can also add a little zest to the jam too if you want



Directions:
Choose healthy and lively colored roses, very fragrant and make sure they have not been touched by any chemicals.
Pull the petals and rose buds and let them sit in fresh cold water for 10 minutes so that the dust and other insects or impurities get washed off.
Rinse well, and place in a large bowl with the juice of the lemon and 1 cup sugar and let them sit like that for 20 minutes to all night....which is really supposed to toughen up the fragile petals.


I think that petals should be soft and mushy if you ask me...., but that's how people usually do it, so that's how I tell you to do too.


When you are ready to make the jam, grab a saucepan with fitting lid, place the water and rest of the sugar in and let them simmer o make a simple syrup.
That should take 15 to 30 minutes and when it's a little thinner than honey, add the petals and let simmer away over low heat for 1 hour and up to 2 hours.
If using zest, this is the time to add it.
Give it a taste every now and then and stop it if it tastes finished.


Place in a jar when it has cooled down a bit and store in the fridge.
My batch yielded close to 2 cups of jam.
Enjoy !