Rose Petal Jelly

We cracked open a few bottles of elderflower champagne last week and it was surprisingly lovely:) so nice in fact I went straight out and picked more flowers to make another batch. I bottled it yesterday morning so now we are back to having 6 x 1 ltr bottles again , phew!! I plan on making a larger batch next year I didn't want to commit this year incase I didn't like it.

The elderflowers inspired me to  try using other types of flowers in recipes, so I decided to use some rose petals from our garden. We have loads this year beautiful pinks and reds.

Since making this recipe I have found loads of different ways of making rose jelly and jam online.I assumed jam and jelly to be the same but apparently not, the difference being, jelly is clear.

I plan on making more and this time I'm going to try a jam, if you use citric acid it holds the colour so if I use a combination of pink and red petals I'll hopefully end up with a beautiful dark pink jam:)

Tis The Season For Elderflowers

I went picking elderflowers last Friday, firstly I had to figure out what they looked like.When you start looking you suddenly realise there are alot of white headed wild flowers out there. After confirmation of what they look like we headed out and realised we are surrounded by them! We picked just enough for a 6 litre batch, I wanted to make sure I could actually make it first and more importantly make sure we actually like the taste:)

Its a really simple process, I used a BBC Hugh Fearnley recipe. For correct measurments google it, its easy to find online. All you need is water, sugar and lemons and 15 elderflower heads in full bloom.
 Step 1 heat water add sugar stir to dissolve add lemon rind and juice and elderflower heads, stir.

Cover in Muslin and wait for a few days.

there are mixed opinions on how long you wait before bottling it, some say straight away others say wait 6 days. I did a bit of both I waited 4 days before bottling!

Line a sieve with muslin and pour liquid

Steralise bottles and use a funnel to pour liquid in.

All I have to do now is wait for two weeks!!