Rose Petal Plum Jam

"A ROSE IS JUST A ROSE..." until it becomes

ROSE PETAL PLUM JAM

another favorite jam from this season...sweet, tart fresh plums with just a wisp of summer rose.

perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea on a cold fall-ish day.

i know you'll be proud to give some away, as i did, but be sure to stick a few jars in the pantry for one of those gloomy blah winter days when you need a little reminder that everything is right in the world.

the jam is a beautiful crimson color with small chunks of plum and an occasional aromatic rose petal...
a little note about the rose petals...smell them!.  some are more fragrant than others.  if buying the dried rose buds, then you'll need to separate them into petals and make sure you weed out the nice looking petals and not all that comes with the whole bud (there's some scrappy stuff you don't want in there).  don't go wild with the petals.  i used 1/4 cup.  they do not dissolve or get really soft in the jam.  you don't want too many rose petal chunks in your delicate jam.  towards the end when i did my taste test i found that i needed to add a little rose extract to really make the rose evident.
it's one thing to call it rose petal jam, but i wanted it to taste like rose petal jam.
and a note about the plums...i bought mine at my favorite Mexican market.  .99 cents for 3 lbs...really?! they had a reddish interior.  the ones in the photo that went by the same name, "Red Plum", had the lighter interior.  i have used both for jams and find that the beautiful skin is what colors the jam so nicely.  OH, and don't buy ripe squishy plums...they should be firm and a little tart.
also, don't be alarmed if the jam is quite stiff straight out of the fridge, it will soften at room temp.
plums are full of pectin and with the assurance of the sliced green apple you will surely get a good "set".  i tend to lean on the more set side, but some like a syrupy jam...it's up to you how far you cook it down.

ROSE PETAL PLUM JAM

3 lbs, plums, equals about 6 cups diced

2 slices of green apple...will be removed

4 cups sugar

1 lemon zest...use a potato peeler and slice into very thin slivers...you can use a microplane, but i like to see the tiny slivers and notice the flavor when you run into one.

juice from 1 lemon

1/4 cup edible rose petals, carefully picked through

1 tsp cardamom...i started with 1/2 tsp and added the other 1/2 after some taste testing.

1/2 vanilla bean, scrapped

1/2 tsp rose extract... you might not need this depending on the intensity of your rose petals.  i had it on hand just in case and ended up adding it in.

get your water bath ready and start it boiling...it takes a long time to boil a huge canning pot like mine.  put a couple of small plates in the freezer.  get all your jars cleaned and sterilized.  i like to clean the jars and sterilize them in the oven for 20 min. at 220 F degrees...then turn the oven to low until ready to fill jars.  hot jam must go into hot/warm jars. 

put all ingredients except the rose extract,  into your heavy non reactive jam making pot...i use a tall sided stock pot to insure no boil over and no splattering.

start on low until you see the plums releasing their juice.  stir a little to combine.  i like to fold it so as not to mash the fruit more than necessary.  when you see more liquid and the sugar is dissolving, turn the heat up to medium.  get a little boil going...then go to medium-high. stir to insure no hot spots and no burning on the bottom.  the mixture will almost double in size and bubble up, so a large or taller pot is necessary.  stir every now and then.  when the temperature reaches 220 F degrees, do a plate test. if you see any pockets of foam skim it off as well as possible.  this makes for a prettier, glistening jam.  i don't get to finicky about the foam skimming, but i try.   taste test your jam at this point.  please remember to be careful, it is molten hot...even blowing on it will not suffice...let it rest.  rose petals can vary in flavor and aroma intensity...i added the rose extract at this time (you might not need to).  cardamom can vary in intensity as well, but remember, you do not want the cardamom to over power the rose.

remove the apple slices.
when you have passed the plate test, turn off the heat and proceed with canning.
i will not go into the whole canning process because this is getting too long, but you can find good information HERE at Simple Canning.com or Pick Your Own.org

one final note...after the jam has been opened, dipped in to and put in the fridge for a few weeks, i found that it discolored a bit on the sides of the jar...as if it wanted to crystallize.  not to worry, it is not spoiled.  i don't know why it does this.  i have only noticed it on the plum jams and a little on the Orange Tarragon jam after a quite few weeks.  maybe i should eat more jam!, but there are 13 jars in the fridge right now! 

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