Loading ...Mediterranean Cooking from the Garden with Linda Dalal Sawaya: Heavenly Rose Jam—muraba warid
double delight rose © linda dalal sawaya 2015
June is here with our Portland Rose Festival, and the roses in my garden have been blooming for weeks now, along with early strawberries, raspberries and even blueberries. One of the amazing delights that come from roses, including the variety double delight, which could be re-named triple delight is rose jam.
Double delight is named for it’s beautiful fragrance and coloration. That it makes fabulous jam is an additional treat.
While making this ancient ambrosial concoction, it perfumes my home, my taste buds, and lifts my spirit with its heavenly fragrance. Historically, rose petals were strewn in processions, at weddings, and festivals like confetti; they were added to bath water prior to the making of soap; and eventually they were distilled to make rose water, which then became popular in our Middle Eastern pastries, such as baklava (baklawe in Arabic), ‘atayif bi jouz (Lebanese crepes with walnut or cheese filling), and our beloved Arabic cheese pastry knafe bi jibn.
The discovery of rose water was attributed to Ibn Sina (Avicenna), a Persian physician who contributed much to the Islamic Golden age. Myths, legends, folk remedies, and folklore are abundant with roses—symbolic and real. In Portland’s City of Roses tradition, the floats for Rose Parade are adorned and covered with festive roses, as they are in the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, and other festivals nationwide. A symbol of love and beauty in many cultures, it is important in Christianity, Islam, and Sufism as expressed by poets, and in Greek and Roman mythology as well. Heavenly perfection and earthly passion are among the symbols connected with the rose.
A simple syrup called attar in Arabic, is flavored with rose water (may warid) and orange blossom water (may zahar) and then chilled to drizzle over baked pastries as they emerge hot from the oven. Recipes for making this syrup and the pastries are found in Alice’s Kitchen: Traditional Lebanese Cooking, along with mhallabiye, a rose water pudding and riz ib haleeb, rice pudding—both childhood favorites of mine scented with rose water—that delicate, magical essence that takes me back in time.
Roses are a natural ingredient for perfumes and aromatherapy sprays to refresh and revive oneself. Therapeutic benefits of rose range from aphrodisiac to antiseptic, antidepressant, nervine and beyond! A few drops of the distilled rose water added to lemonade add a floral sweetness to this summer beverage; a few drops in a demitasse cup of hot water create “white coffee”, as an alternative to Arabic coffee after a meal to help digestion. If you miss deadheading a rose in your garden, it will develop into a rose hip. Most of us know that rose hips make vitamin C rich herbal tea beneficial in the winter months to stave off colds.
rose petals for jam © linda dalal sawaya 2015
To make rose jam, use only organically grown roses for petals: pick your most fragrant roses early in the morning before the sun has touched them, and snip off the white edge of the petal bottoms as they are bitter. Make sure to find and remove any hiding insects, place three cups of petals into a bowl, sprinkle lightly with sugar, and mix well.
rose petals with sugar © linda dalal sawaya 2015
Let them sit overnight at room temperature; they will have diminished in size by the next morning. Put them into an enamel pot with a cup and a half of water and bring to a boil, turn the heat down and let the jam simmer until it thickens. Taste it to be sure the sweetness is to your liking. Stir in the juice of one lemon, remove from heat, and put into sterile jars. This makes approximately two cups of beautiful pink rose jam with the rose’s incomparable fragrance. Two of the rose varieties I used are double delight and Chicago peace. Using a fragrant red rose imparts a deeper red color than the lovely delicate color mine produced—either way, the flavor is divine—heavenly perfection to be enjoyed with earthly passion.
rose jam cooking © linda dalal sawaya 2015
rose jam in jars © linda dalal sawaya 2015
To me it is best to not strain out the petals, as I love and enjoy their texture. This delicately flavored jam served at brunch will delight you and your guests over pita bread, caak, hot biscuits, pancakes, scones or just spooned straight out of the jar. Let the summer festivities begin! Sahtein!
rose jam in jars © linda dalal sawaya 2015
Chicago peace rose © linda dalal sawaya 2015
garden rose © linda dalal sawaya 2015
double delight rose © linda dalal sawaya 2015
—Linda Dalal Sawaya is an artist, cook, Master Gardener, daughter of Lebanese immigrants, and author of Alice’s Kitchen: Traditional Lebanese Cooking who lives in Portland, Oregon.
Remember, as my mother Alice said, “If you make it with love, it will be delicious!”
all photos and story © linda dalal sawaya 2015