Now we have three thriving plants, and lots of roses to make Rose Petal Jam and the light rose-scented Yogurt Mousse flavored with it. Later when our guests come, we will offer them my refreshing Pomegranate and Rose Petal Granita everyone loves. 

I also dry the fragrant petals –spread on clean towels all over the house– to use later in my herbal teas and in home-made Eastern Mediterranean spice mixes.

The kitchen is filled with the haunting, sensual aroma and although I try, I cannot remember for what reason during my childhood I so hated rose petal jam. I had probably associated it with endless and boring visits to monasteries on family excursions throughout Greece. Nuns traditionally prepare and offer visitors a spoonful of rodozahari (rose petal jam), which I always declined to taste.

Not until I visited Morocco in the early ‘90s did I finally lay the ghost of my youth-trauma hatred of rose petal jam and rose water. Moroccan sweets, but also the savory dishes scented with rose petals, were a revelation to me, and even made me wish I had tasted rodozhari on some of those monastery visits.

I learned that Armenian monks on the Venetian island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni prepare a wonderful rose petal jam, as Emiko Davis writes. His recipe is somewhat different from mine; rose petal jam, at least the one I have seen and tasted, are not that vividly pink as in his pictures, unless one uses artificial coloring. My jam, form pale pink fragrant roses is light amber, while the darker pink petals make a deeper colored jam.

For many years now we have tried to cultivate the old-fashioned heirloom fragrant roses in our garden on Kea – Rosa Damascena and related antique rose varietals – but our dry climate and poor soil has made it very difficult to produce enough rose petals to make the jam. This year is the first time I managed to gather quite a few fragrant rose petals to make a small batch of jam.

But even if you have just a few roses you can complement them with good quality organic dried rose petals, together with good rosewater, as I have done for many years, in order to make a cup of hauntingly aromatic jam to serve with fresh cheese, with ice cream, or with yogurt, and especially with the light Yogurt Mousse that our guests love.

Rose Petal Jam

Pomegranate and Rose Petal Granita  

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Makes 8 cups Meat Sauce

½ cup olive oil

2 large onions (about 400 grams) finely chopped or ground in the blender

½ cup white wine or water

2 pounds mostly lean ground beef

2 ½ cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen – thawed)

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

2 teaspoons salt, or more, to taste

4 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons turmeric

4-5 teaspoons Maras or Aleppo pepper flakes, or more to taste

3-4 bay leaves (Mediterranean)

1 cup sweet wine, such as Mavrodaphne or Madeira

3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste

1/3 cup chopped fresh thyme, or more, to taste

Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet and sauté the onions, stirring often for 4 minutes. Pour in the white wine or water, toss and cook for another 4-5 minutes until soft and almost dry.

Add the meat, and cook, stirring often to sauté, until no longer pink. Add the tomato paste and stir to mix.

In a blender mush the corn with the garlic and add to the meat in the skillet, together with the salt, the allspice, cumin, turmeric, Maras pepper and bay leaves. Stir well to mix, add the wine and bring to a boil. Toss, add 3 tablespoons lemon juice, stir and taste, to correct the seasoning. Turn off the heat, cover and let simmer 8-10 minutes, until almost dry. Add the thyme, stir and divide the sauce, using as much as you need, and after cooling the rest, cover and refrigerate or freeze, for later use.

Keeps 5-6 days in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.

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