Last February on a whim I bought two pounds of dried rose petals. (In my defense they were practically a steal at less than $7 a pound…with free shipping!) Valentine’s Day was approaching and I had high hopes for them, with ideas like heart-shaped rose petal tea cakes, white chocolate rose petal mousse, rose petal sorbet, and rose petal punch dancing around my head. Since I posted no such recipes here, you can probably see where I’m going with this. :)
Pick a pretty color because your jelly will be *about* the same color as the petals.
Time eluded me and I put my rose petal ideas on hold…until now (well, a couple weeks ago, anyway ;) )! I finally decided it was time to make something with my rose petals, and the first thing I wanted to try was jelly…first of all because I’ve always wanted to try rose petal jelly, second because I didn’t feel like making something that required turning on the oven and heating up the house in the middle of the gruesome heat wave we were in, and third because there’s a ton of stuff you can do with jelly.
In the beginning I was a little skeptical to use dried rose petals (since I had only heard of jelly being made from fresh petals), but I soldiered onward, thinking all the while of the two pounds of rose petals in my pantry. I was glad I did since the jelly ended up being really pleasant; it was sweet but not overly so, and subtly scented and flavored of rose. The color was gorgeous – a deep burgundy – even richer in color than my rose petals looked. If you have fresh, organic petals you can use them instead of dried, just be sure to trim off the pointy white base of each petal since it has a bitter flavor.
Rose Petal Jelly (Adapted from Rose-Works and Creamer Chronicles)
(Yield: About 1 pint)
1 3/4 cups water
1 oz (about 1 1/4 cups) dried culinary rose petals
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons powdered pectin
1 cup sugar
Bring water up to a rolling boil in a medium saucepan; add rose petals and boil 1 minute. Cover the saucepan, turn the heat off, and steep the rose petals 30 minutes. Strain the water through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, making sure to wring the cheesecloth to squeeze all the liquid from the petals; transfer the steeped rose water back to the saucepan.
Stir in the lemon juice, then whisk in the pectin and sugar until dissolved. Bring to a boil on high heat and boil 5 minutes (stirring frequently), turning heat down as necessary so it doesn’t boil over. Transfer to sterile jar(s), cool to room temperature, and then store refrigerated.
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
Can you water process this recipe and can it?
Kacie, I haven’t tried processing this jelly, but it may work. My biggest concern is that it’s a low-acid jelly, even with the 1 tablespoon lemon juice. If you decide to give it a try, please let me know how it goes!
Hi Faith!
Do you have a resource for organic edible dried flowers? If so please email me. If not organic still please send me a good vendor :)
thanks! M
Dear Edible Mosaic,
After trying out some other rose jelly recipes without much success for one of my unusual orders , I have attempted your rose jelly and it came out beautifully. Would you mind if I mention your jelly recipe in my new (coming out in November) unusual cupcake recipe section? I will, of course, place a link to your site immediately after the recipe
Thank you,
Christina
Christina, I’m so happy that you enjoyed my rose petal jelly recipe! You are absolutely welcome to mention my recipe in your recipe section, and thank you for the link!
Best,
Faith
I am back. I made another batch of this jelly, and as I was picking the petals from my garden, I noticed that I had a lot of calendula flowers, too, so I made a batch using them as a substitute for the rose petals as well. Both are delightful! The calendula jelly is a lovely pale yellow with a delicate taste.
I just tried your recipe, but with fresh petals from my garden. It is delightful! Thank you for sharing. :)
Hi, my name is Momochiyo, a composer and musician.
I just wonder…
Would you mind if I use your beautiful “Rose petal jelly” picture for my website?
Because I just wrote the music is called “Rose petal jam” for 3 flutes.
Much appreciated if you give me permission. Please tell me if you have any condition.
Best regards,
Momochiyo
Momochiyo, Hello and thank you so much for your kind words about my photo! Your work sounds lovely. I am honored and I would love it if you use my photo for your site. I would appreciate it if you could list my site (An Edible Mosaic) as the source of the photo, along with a link. Please be sure to send me a link to your site when the photo is up, I would love to see it! Best, Faith
This is absolutely lovely – just look at that “rosey” color!
:)
ButterYum
Thanks I’ll check and see if they still have the dried petals. The sorbet I made have wonderful. I made it from the jam I made and thought was a little to sweet but was perfect for sorbet I also used rose hips tea in the recipe.
Where can I order the dried petals? I use to make rose petal jam years ago when I had lots of rose bushes. I also made rose petal sorbet. Thanks
Diane, I ordered mine on Amazon. That rose petal sorbet sounds really lovely!
How beautiful! I love anything made with rosewater and so does my husband so this rose petal jelly wouldn’t last long in our house! Have you ever had rose hip jam, Faith? It’s very popular in my husband’s country (the former Yugoslavia), and if you like rose jelly, I’m sure you’d love rose hip jam. We buy it at an International grocery store down the road from us. Anyway, your jelly would make perfect Christmas presents!
how lovely. count me among those who had no idea this was possible–it’s something i HAVE to try!