THE HOME AND WOMEN'S INTERESTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23879, 1 February 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE HOME AND WOMEN'S INTERESTS

Home of Flower Petal Preserves

Bulgaria Famous for Unusual Jams

the ship's officers, but, though we were all interested, none of us thought it compared with many of our familiar preserves. Perhaps Madonna lilies grow too readily In Bulgaria for them to be valued —most of us are guilty of scorning plants which do not demand attention. 1 remember seeing in a .Bulgarian park a border of ragged stalks which should have been a mass of fragrance if some fledgling officers had not chosen at some previous time to decapitate them with their swords.! "Did you not protest?" I asked the official in charge, who ruefully regaled us with the story of their end, and his amazement that anyone should venture

By H. M. COSTELLO 'PROBABLY most people have laughed over the storv of the old lady who, on her return from a world tour, was asked if they had been to Rome and, hesitating, was prompted with, "Why, -Ma, of course we did! That's where you bought your purple bonnet." Well, J confess that though Bulgaria is a beautiful land, rich and full of historic interest, mention of it invariably suggests JAM to me! Still, the preserves of Bulgaria are definitely unusual! When I was first shown attractive-looking rose-petal jam during my visit to that country, I was afraid we were not g'ling to taste it, but soon found that that was not t lie hospitable Bulgarian way! Small glasses of iced water were produced to ensure appreciation of the delicate flavour, and then tiny crystal bowls of the preserve were handed round. 1, privately, thought it disappointingly insipid. But I was interested to hear that only one special rose was considered suitable for making it; the same, I think, as that used for making the famous attar of roses. The most special delicacy of all Bulgarian conserves is one made from the petals of Madonna lilies. A small jar of this was produced almost reverently, with the information that it, was rarely made now because of the time and trouble involved. Each petal had to be rolled like a cigarette and threaded on to string. The strings were then dropped into a strong syrup, and at a certain stage the petals were slipped off them. When the syrup thickened the conserve was potted. Forty blossoms, I remember, went to two pounds of sugar with the requisite quantity of water. A jar was given us and I hope we displayed sufficient enthusiasm, though in reality such use of those blossoms seemed almost profane to me. We later shared the exotic confection with

to protest about anything the ARMY did, was illuminating. We saw hundreds of those young Bulgarian soldiers —every public place seemed full of uniforms; nice-looking lads enough mostly, too. but I never forgave them that vandalism. Why the Bulgarians needed to make flowers into jams became more mysterious when we learned that Bourgas alone had exported 7000 tons of strawberries the previous season to England and that, many huge barrels of them were being loaded into our ship. Put into a solution of bi-sulphate of lime the berries lost their colouring and looked quite unripe; but they would, we were assured, entirely recover their beauty after washing and exposure to the sun. and be precisely the same as when picked. This was really hard to believe!