Love Letter Jam

• To deal with the rose petals and make the rose syrup
• 3 ounces fresh red rose petals (do not use ones that have been sprayed with insecticide or the like); this is roughly 12 or 13 roses, headed.
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon (or regular lemon) juice, divided
• 6 cups water, or more
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• To make the jelly
• 1 cup reserved rosewater
• 1 Meyer lemon, washed and diced (including peel except for large ends)
• 1 small, firm apple (about 4 oz), cored but left unpeeled, diced
• 1 box fresh red currants, about 5.3 oz
• 11/2 cups granulated sugar (you might need a bit more, per your taste)
• 1/4 cups granulated sugar, whisked with 2 tsp natural pectin

1. Wash the rose petals well, and trim off any white ends you come across. Drain the petals and place into a 4 qt, or larger, pot. Cover with fresh, cold water, add 11/2 tablespoons lemon juice, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. When the water is red, and the petals have faded to a pale magenta, drain the petals, reserving 4 cups of the rosewater. Set the petals aside.
3. In the same pan, combine 2 c reserved rosewater (from what you just drained and set aside), 1/2 c water, 1 c sugar and the remaining 1.5 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice. Boil 10 minutes, making sure sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in reserved petals. Let macerate 2 hours and then drain, reserving this rose syrup. At this point, you can dispose of the petals.
4. If you're planning to can this jelly, get your canning pot set up- water boiling, jars out, etc.
5. In a (separate) large pot, add another 1 c reserved rosewater, 1 c water, the diced lemon, diced apple, and the cheesecloth purse (if using; see note 2 above). Turn the heat to high. When boiling, add the currants, and the rose syrup you made earlier. Boil 10 minutes, remove cheesecloth purse, and add 11/2 c sugar.
6. Let the mixture cook until the sugar dissolves and a nice boil returns. Remove from heat and carefully strain through a fine-mesh sieve, ultimately returning the liquid to your pot. rnPut all solids into a foodmill set with the finest disk, place the mill over the pot holding the liquid, and crank until all additional juice is pressed out. Discard solids.
7. Return this strained "jelly" to a boil, and whisk in about 1/4 of your sugar-pectin mixture. You might get a few small clots which you can strain out. At this point, you can do the freezer-plate test, or you can just go for it (the freezer-plate test is kind of hit or miss in my opinion).rnLadle into jars and process in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

petals, red rose petals, freshly squeezed meyer, water, sugar, rosewater, lemon, apple, fresh red currants, sugar, ubc

Taken from food52.com/recipes/16258-love-letter-jam (may not work)