Roses in December

If you grow roses and are not conscientious about deadheading them, you know that you will have plenty of rosehips right now. I cut them from the plant and hang them upside down to dry before using them in all sorts of ways– in scented mixtures and spice blends, tea blends and as a flavor ingredient in icing, cakes and jelly.

Do you have rosehips? How do you use them?

If you don't have access to your own organic rosehips, you can still make rosehip jelly. Look for dried and cut organic rosehips at whole foods or health food markets or in commercial tea blends. For the fragrant jelly left, I combined dried hibiscus flowers with dried cut rosehips in equal amounts. If your rosehips haven't completely dried out yet and you want to use the following recipe, double the amount so that you would be using 1 cup chopped fresh rosehips.

Rosehip Jelly

Makes 6 cups

3 or 6 rose stems with rosehips attached, optional

4 cups water

1/2 cup chopped dried rosehips or combination petals and rosehips

6 cups granulated sugar

1 pouch liquid pectin

1. Wash and immerse 6 1-cup or 3 two-cup canning jars in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until ready to fill. If you are planning to float a stem with whole rosehips still attached, cut the stems to the height of the jar. Using a razor, remove the thorns from the rose stems and set aside.

2. In a deep-sided saucepan or canning kettle, bring the water to a boil. Add rosehips, cover the pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

3. Over a large bowl, strain off and discard the rosehips. Return the rosehip infusion to the saucepan and add the sugar. Over low heat and stirring constantly, bring the liquid and sugar to a hard boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute. Stir in the pectin and stir the liquid for a minute.

4. Remove from the heat and skim off any foam. Ladle jelly into hot jars, one at a time. Add a rosehip stem to the jelly. Add more jelly until 1/4-inch from the top of the jar. Wipe the rim clean and cap with the flat part of the canning lid. Screw on the band and return the filled jar to the canner. Fill remaining jars.

5. Top up the water in the canner if necessary to bring the water at least 1-inch above the tops of the jars. Cover and bring to a rolling boil and boil constantly for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and let the jars sit in the water for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

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Name That Herb

Jerusalem Artichoke

Thanks to Simon, who dropped off these little gems. Congrats to Herrick Kimball, who knew: ..Those roots look like Jerusalem Artichokes. I have a bunch of them here. They are good sliced up raw on salads. That's the only way we have eaten them.

Some people call them Sunchokes, I guess because they look like and actually are sunflowers and the other common name, Jerusalem Artichoke is a bit confusing because many people assume that they are related to artichokes of the thistle family. In fact, Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) is a native American plant. The common name may have come from the Spanish word for sunflower, girasol...Jerusalem. I don't know.

What I do know is that they are delicious and filled with energy and good food value.

I roast them with other root vegetables and have shredded them for salads as Herrick does.

This week, here's how I cooked my gift from Simon.

Jerusalem Artichoke Scallop

In a skillet, heat 2 tbsp olive oil. Add 1 chopped onion and 1 cup chopped mushrooms. Reduce heat and cook, stirring frequently for 10 minutes. You can add fresh or dried sage, rosemary or oregano to this as it cooks.

Meanwhile, using a mandolin or food processor, slice about 6 Jerusalem Artichoke roots, 1 carrot and 1 parsnip.

In a greased casserole dish, arrange 1/3 of the sliced artichokes, carrots and parsnip. Spread 1/2 of the onion-mushroom mixture over. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 3 tbsp flour over and pour milk into the casserole to cover the vegetables.

For this scallop, having just come back from the foodbuzz festival, I had a beautiful, triple cream Brie, which I sliced very thin and arranged half over the vegetables.

Like a true scallop, the second 1/3 of the sliced artichokes, carrots and parsnip are arranged over the brie. The remaining onion-mushroom mixture goes over that layer. More salt and pepper, flour and milk to cover the vegetables. Remaining brie and the final layer of vegetables, flour, small pieces of butter and milk to cover it all. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and bake in a 350°F oven for about 1 hour.

THANK YOU FOODBUZZ

THANK YOU FOODBUZZ

It was a foodie frenzie! It was a culinary herbalist's heaven! It was the first Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco, and I am just back and filled to the brim with good food, great memories and contacts to fabulous new foodie friends.

So for the rest of the month of November, I would like to dedicate this blog to Foodbuzz and all of their sponsors, who provided an absolutely outstanding festival.

The pict on my banner above was taken with a long exposure and no tripod, but I really liked the dreamy lights and the clouds and the blaze of orange off the building--sort of a symbol for the experience. The shot is from the outdoor rooftop of Hotel Vitale, which was the first event in our whirlwind weekend. Cocktails by MIDI and drinks by SKYY, the mood was perfect.

Our stay at the Galleria Park Hotel was divine, a perfect boutique hotel for the perfect weekend.

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK