FLOWERS ON THE FAMILY TREE

   Have you ever loved somebody so much you’ve said “I could just eat you up” ? That’s how much I love flowers. Of course, I love people more than flowers, and while the sharpness of grief over the loss of my mother and my mother in law has passed, they often crop up in my mind as if they’re still just a phone call away. I’m always surprised a split second later when reality intrudes.

Both bald hip and rosa nutkana are native to the Pacific Northwest maritime corridor. 

   Picking my luscious roses this morning, I wanted to savor them in a special way, and I remembered that my mother in law made rose petal jam once, but before I could whip out my cell phone, I realized that I’d be on my own for this project. I could have used wild rose petals for my jelly but it would have involved climbing into too many ditches and up slippery embankments so I used my domestic roses. Highly fragrant roses will produce more intensely flavored jelly. 

   So I opened up a package of MCP pectin, read the recipes enclosed, thought about it, and winged it. Here it is:

    ROSE PETAL GODDESS JELLY

   I’m going to walk you through all the steps of boiling water bath canning for jelly here. Newbies, it’s not difficult, just a bit of rigamarole. Experienced canners, skip to the scones!

5 cups washed, firm packed rose petals (from roses grown with only sunshine, love and water)

5 cups water

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

7 1/2 cups granulated sugar measured into a bowl and set aside

1 package MCP pectin

1/2 teaspoon butter

1 glass pink zinfandel or other blush wine, set aside*

   Drag out your boiling water bath canner (yes, you can use a sufficiently large pot if you don’t have a canner) fill with water, cover and  bring to a boil while you prepare the mess I mean rest of the items.

   Bring a tea kettle of water to boil, and start a small saucepan of water to boil. (All this boiling water is like  home childbirth preparations from a 1940s movie.)

   Wash and sterilize 18 half pint pint canning jars (running through the dishwasher will suffice, or wash in hot sudsy water, rinse and air dry). Place jars upright on a dishcloth and fill with boiling water from the tea kettle.

   Wash and rinse lids, drop into small saucepan of boiling water, reduce heat to low.

   Place 5 cups rose petals in a stockpot. Pour 5 cups of water over, bring to a boil. Don’t be sad if the color looks lackluster—just you wait! Reduce heat to a simmer, pour in 1/4 cup lemon juice and see the color change! Science magic! Continue simmering, covered, 10 minutes.

   Carefully strain petal and lemon juice mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl. Measure 5 cups of juice back into stockpot.

   Stir 1 package MCP pectin into the juice in stockpot. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.

   Add sugar to juice, return to a full rolling boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar andonce you’ve reached a boil, boil exactly 2 minutes.

   While the juice mix is on the boil, dump the hot water out of the jars and drain the lids.

   After 2 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and ladle hot jelly mixture into jars, filling within 1/4” of the tops of the jar.

   With a clean, damp cloth, wipe the rim of the jars, place lids on jars and screw on the rings. Using tongs or a canning jar lifter, place jars in boiling water bath canner and process 5 minutes. Boiling water must cover jars by 2”. After 5 minutes, remove jars from canner, set on a dry kitchen towel and let sit for 24 hours. As jars cool, you’ll hear the lids make popping sounds as the vacuum seal is complete. This is normal and desirable. 

   Store jars in a cool, dark space up to 18 months.

   *Lastly, locate reserved glass of wine amid the kettles, pots, bowls, sticky spoons, jelly pools and wet towels on the counter, and take internally while you clean up the kitchen. Congratulations. You are a regular Domestic Goddess, just like your foremothers before you.

   What are you going to do with your jelly? Give it away as gifts. Spoon it over ice cream, incorporate it into cake frosting or filling. Eat a sandwich made of almond butter and rose petal jelly, or get all British and make …

Patting the dough out with a hump in the center makes a classic scone shape. 

 CREAM SCONES

               —Recipe from Pat Diaz, another dear lady I wish I could call. “Neatness Counts,” her words.

2 cups unsifted all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup heavy cream

Additional scant amount of cream for brushing on scones

Additional sugar for dusting scones

   In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar. With a fork cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

   In a bowl, combine the eggs and 1/3 cup cream, whisking until eggs are incorporated. Add the egg and cream mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until dough clings together. Turn dough out on floured board and knead lightly, about 30 strokes. Divide dough into 2 balls. On floured board, pat balls into 6” circles making a small hump of dough sticking up like a golf ball in the center of each circle.

   With a knife, cut each circle into half, then into quarters.

   Place quarters on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops of scones with the additional cream and sprinkle each with about 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. 

   Bake at 400 about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with butter and your lovely jelly. Makes 8 scones.

***Next spring, smell the blossoms on your apple tree and you’ll realize that apples are members of the rose family, along with plums, cherries, peaches, apricots almonds, pears, quince, nectarines, raspberries, and many other fruits. It’s a beautiful family tree! Just like yours and mine.

Fruitfully yours,

KARIN

Roots and shoots on the family tree. Grandma Jane and her great granddaughter Sedona Rose.