Conserve de Roses de Provins

the medieval sweetmeat and medicine of Champagne: petals of the apothecary's rose pounded to a paste with sugar, cooked briefly, and set firm enough to cut into deep-pink squares

Origin: France

From the journey of Rose.

Tradition credits Thibaut IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre, with bringing the apothecary's rose home from the Holy Land to Provins in the thirteenth century, and whether or not the story is literally true the town built upon that rose a trade that lasted six hundred years and has never entirely stopped. Rosa gallica var. officinalis has one quality that no other western rose shares to the same degree: it holds its scent when dried, so its petals could be stored, carried, powdered, and sold across Europe. Provins grew it by the hectare, supplied the apothecaries of half a continent, and made from it a whole family of preparations, of which the conserve de roses is the most enduring: petals pounded with sugar into a stiff, deep-pink, sliceable paste that was sold as a sweetmeat from the confectioner and prescribed as a remedy from the pharmacy, the two being much the same shop. Beside it went rose honey, rose syrup, rose vinegar, and candied petals. This is the northern European counterpart to the Persian and Levantine rose tradition, and its distinguishing mark is that it works with the whole petal rather than the distillate, because in Provins the still was never necessary.

Ingredients

Conserve

  • 150 g fresh scented rose petals, unsprayed (damask or gallica for preference), white heels trimmed off
  • 400 g caster sugar
  • 150 ml water
  • 1 whole lemon, juiced
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar (for pounding)

To Finish

  • 2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method

  1. Pick over the petals, trimming the small white heel from the base of each with scissors, and rinse only if you must, drying them thoroughly. Reserve a small handful of the best petals whole.
  2. Put the petals in a mortar with the tablespoon of sugar and the lemon juice and pound steadily for several minutes, until they bruise, darken, release their scent, and collapse into a coarse fragrant pulp.
  3. Warm the 400 g of sugar with the water in a heavy pan, stirring until dissolved, then bring to the boil and cook without stirring to 112°C, the thread stage, about 6 to 8 minutes.
  4. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the pounded petals at once, return to a low heat, and cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the mixture thickens, darkens a shade, and a spoon drawn across the base leaves a channel that holds.
  5. Pour into a small tray lined with parchment to a depth of about 1.5 cm, press the reserved whole petals into the surface, and leave uncovered in a cool place for 24 hours to firm. Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.

Notes

Only heavily scented old roses will do, and unsprayed ones: modern hybrid teas have often been bred for form and vase life at the expense of perfume, and florist roses are treated and not edible. Damask petals give the fullest scent and gallica the deepest colour, which is why Provins used the latter. If the paste sets too soft, return it to the pan with a further 50 g of sugar and cook a few minutes more; if too hard, work in a spoonful of hot water. The same mixture, stopped earlier and left loose, is the confiture de pétales de roses found across France and the Balkans, and thinned further with water it becomes rose syrup for drinks and ices. Eat it as a sweetmeat with coffee, spread very thinly on brioche, or spoon it over thick yoghurt or a plain custard.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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