A few days ago I wrote about the wonderful scent of the Agnes rose. It grows along the border land of my neighbour Vida, who is an excellent culinary master, creating out of herbs and flowers. Vida has learned her art from a famous Slovenian flower lover* Baroness Jelena de Belder. Thanks to Jelena’s old recipe, a truly top-quality rose marmalade was made for which Agnes contributed her petals.
The secret of the strong aroma of Vida’s rose marmalade lies in rose petals and sugar being crushed together for a long time. In this way, the aromatic liquid coming from the compressed petals gets strongly absorbed in sugar, and the aroma of the rose is retained in the marmalade. Rose heads must, of course, be completely fresh, picked in the morning, and all the green parts that could make the marmalade taste bitter must be removed. The marmalade prepared in that way does not require long cooking, keeps the beautiful colour of the petals and, believe me, its aroma cannot be rivalled!