My mom and I made yet another recipe from my grandmother’s recipe booklet. The reason I chose to make this recipe is not only because one of the readers requested it, but also because it runs along the theme with a very exciting screening that I would like to talk about. I would like to share with you a beautiful story about philanthropy. For those of you who live in Los Angeles, you are in luck, a wonderful documentary, Lady of the Roses, will be shown on November 14th at UCLA. Now first let me introduce you to this Morabayeh Goleh Sorkh, Rose Petal jam, recipe. I have a feeling that this is the first of  a couple of other recipes.  I love anything rose, and this jam came out so delicious and fragrant.

Ingredient

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 cup dry rose petals
1/4 cup rosewater
1/4 cup walnuts

This is a fairly simple recipe to make. The type of dried roses that you use will make a huge difference taste and scent wise. I used Golchin’s rose buds. Both my mom and I were pleasantly surprised at how fragrant the petals were when we opened the bag.

Combine sugar and water and bring to a boil. Allow for the syrup to reduce and thicken. This should take about 15 minutes or so.

The idea here is to make sure that the syrup thicken to a just right dense consistency. If it is too watery the jam will not store properly and will go bad fairly quickly. If  the syrup is too thick then the sugar will crystallize in the jar. From the original 2 cups of water we ended up with about one cup.

Lightly saute the rose petals or buds until they get nice and crunchy. Make sure that you gently and carefully stir them so that they don’t burn or pulverize.

Once the syrup is ready take the rose petals by the handful and place them in the syrup.  Do not just dump the rose petals in the syrup. The idea here is to just add the petals and not the debris left at the bottom of the pan.

Add rosewater to the rose and syrup mixture and gently stir. Simmer on low for a few minutes longer.

Lightly saute the walnuts in a pan for a few minutes.  Then lightly crush them in a mortar and pestle.

The pieces should be medium size, not too small or too big.

Add walnuts to the rose buds and syrup and mix well. Turn off the gas.

Place a kitchen towel over the lid of the pot that the syrup was made it and cover the whole jam. Let the jam sit and steam on its own and eventually cool off.  The towel will catch the moisture that rises and won’t let it fall onto the jam.

Once cooled place the jam in a sterilized glass jar and store in the refrigerator. It is ready to eat as soon as it cools down to room temperature. But letting it rest one day before eating is probably a good idea as the flavors better come together.

If you are planning on giving the jam as a gift to someone, place a piece of decorative fabric over the lid and secure with a ribbon. I love this fabric, the roses on it went well with the theme here!!!

Now onto the second portion of this post, Lady of the Roses. A couple of months ago I received an email from a friend in Switzerland, Miss Mojgan who introduced me through email to Zahra jan. Through a few email exchanges Zahra jan told me that she had produced a documentary about her aunt and uncle and that it would be shown in LA in November.

Here is a synopsis of the documentary from Payvand:

Directed by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (2008, Iran), “Lady of the Roses” is the name given to late Shahindokht Sanati, a woman who went to Lalehzaar region of Kerman before the Islamic Revolution, and replaced poppies fields with roses gardens and opium with rosewater and took this so far as transforming the agricultural destiny of a whole region. The story is told by Homayoun Sanati, Shahindokht’s spouse and three years after her death. He is the founder of “Franklin Publishing,” “Offset printing house,” “Pars Paper Co.,” etc. and who, as a whole, is considered a one-of-kind figure in Iran’s culture, industry and entrepreneurship.

There is a trailer for the documentary on Jadid Online as well. In order to view the video select your viewing preference (low or high speed) under the picutre of roses in order to launch the video.

Following the screening of the documentary there will be a panel discussion with:

Panelists:

Moderator:  Nayereh Tohidi, Professor, CSUN

Lady of the Roses
Sunday November 14, 2010, 5:00PM – 8:00PM
Dodd Hall, 148, UCLA
Price: Free

I have been looking forward to the screening since the second I found out about it and I can’t wait to see it. I hope many of you will come out to see this documentary!