Make a rose-petal jam recipe with wild blueberries, using pectin for these foraged-fruit preserves, to capture the delicate flavor and enchanting aroma of rose petals.
Blueberries are a classic summer fruit and one of my favorites to work with in the kitchen. Every year, our family visits the local blueberry farm to fill our buckets, and our bellies, with these sweet, tart, fruity delights. Wild blueberries are also quite abundant in the woods behind our home, and we love to enjoy them as snacks during our afternoon hikes.
The delicate flavor and enchanting aroma of rose petals (Rosa spp.) pair well with the tart sweetness of blueberries in this decadent jam of fruits and flowers. Dried flower petals are essential to the success of this pairing. Our steeping time is short, and fresh roses are too gentle to impart their unique flavor into the blueberries. If you’d prefer to work with fresh flowers, double the quantity of rose petals for the recipe and let the sachet of petals infuse in the crushed berries overnight.
Directions
- Add the blueberries to a medium-sized pot. Gently crush the berries using a potato masher or another tool. Add lemon juice, sachet of rose petals, and calcium water to pot with berries and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the pectin powder with sugar or honey and mix until well-blended.
- Bring the blueberry mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once boiling, carefully remove the herb sachet, and then add the sugar and pectin mixture to the pot. Continue to stir vigorously until sugar is well-dissolved. When mixture returns to full boil, remove from heat.
- Pour the jam into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Place caps on jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
For this jam, we’ll also use Pomona’s Universal Pectin, which is formulated to help jams and jellies properly set with less sugar. Pomona’s is a citrus-based pectin that relies on calcium, instead of sugar, to create a firm set. Inside the box, you’ll find two packets: one for the calcium powder, and the other for the pectin.
I love the idea of using less sugar in a jam recipe. Some jams and jellies are too sweet for my liking, and with Pomona’s, I can use less sugar and still create a nice, thick jam. Less sugar also means the flavors of the fruits and herbs are more prominent in the final product. To prepare the calcium water, combine 1/2 teaspoon of the calcium powder with 1/2 cup water in a jar. Cap the jar, shake to mix well, and then set aside. If you don’t have any Pomona’s, use regular pectin and increase the sugar to 1-3/4 to 2 cups.
This jam is fantastic on toast, biscuits, or any other dish that would benefit from a scoop of summer flavors.
Find more food flavored with flowers:
Bevin Cohen is an herbalist, author, owner of Small House Farm, and host of the popular “Seeds & Weeds” podcast. He’s a food and garden writer whose work has appeared in many national publications, and he’s the author of more than 10 books, including The Artisan Herbalist and Herbs in Every Season.
Originally published in the August/September 2026 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and regularly vetted for accuracy.
