Roasted Rhubarb, Strawberry and Rose Conserve

I found the above recipe on the Homegrown Kitchen blog. As my brother grows heaps of Rhubarb, and strawberries are in season here in NZ, I decided to make it. 

First, I had to make some rosewater, which is actually really easy to do. You just have to pick some fresh fragrant, spray free rose petals, preferably red ones, rinse them and then cover with distilled water (I just used filtered), simmer until all the colour has gone from the petals and then strain. If you have used dark red petals, the water has quite a pink/red hue to it and you can definitely smell and taste roses. 

I prepared the rhubarb (300gm's)  and strawberries (500 gms), cut the rhubarb into roughly 3 cm pieces and halving the strawberries. I placed them in a single layer on a lined baking tray, sprinkled 1 tblsp of sugar over them and roasted at 180 degrees for about 20 mins, until the were soft and smelling delicious.  

I then transferred them to a saucepan, added 1/2 cup sugar (minus the tblsp I had sprinkled over the uncooked fruit), the juice of half a lemon and simmered for around 20-25 mins, until the mixture had thicken considerably. This needed stirring in the last 5 mins to stop it sticking and burning. 

I then removed it from the heat and added 3 tsp's of rosewater, stirred that in and poured into cleaned, heated jars. The taste I had off the spoon, was hard to describe. Not sweet, but not tart, a bit in the middle of both I guess and a good blend of both the rhubarb and strawberry flavours. I think it will be delicious on fresh scones or piklets with cream. 

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