Blog | Rose Red & Lavender

I don't know if you have been in the shop lately but a lot has changed and thanks to all your support, we have grown.

Our retail space has expanded and now we can offer some more cool products that I have always wanted to have and that you have been asking for like Fragrance, Canning Supplies, and Water Gardening Supplies.

I am super excited about the Tokyo Milk Perfume and lotions and I still can't decide if I like Dead Sexy or Honey and the Moon the best.

Talking about smelling good, we just harvested our First Lavender of the Season and it smells terrific. I can't wait to get busy and make some something special. Here is our recipe for Lavender Sorbet.

New Design Studio and Classroom!

In addition to our shop getting a wee bit bigger, we have also added a new Design Studio and Classroom. Watch out for our new classes in Canning, Ice Cream Making and of Course, Floral Design and Terrariums.

Rooftop Garden and Apiary

We have installed a rooftop garden and apiary where we are growing our Dwarf Fruit Trees, Herb and Veggie Starts and bees for our Honey which will be available this Fall. One of our Italian neighbors came to visit and told me (with the help of her daughter translating) that she raised bees and chickens back in Italy and she was so happy to see them here.
Do you think we should add some chickens? Let us know on Facebook.

Help Us Help Schools

We are trying to win a small business grant and plan on using the funds to put together a program that teaches  teachers and school children how to raise plants for food and for fund-raising.   We only need 250 votes to be eligible, please show your support! https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/

Water Gardening without the Pond

You can turn any Container into a little Pond for you to enjoy. The sound of trickling water is so soothing and makes any space feel like a Zen Garden. Perfect for small spaces and balconies, We have all the kits you need to make your own fountains and water loving plants like Water Lilies and water hycanthe to make it complete. Click here to see this Bad Dog in action.

Yank Out those Lettuce Plants!

Veggies You Can Plant in July

Who says that Spring is only the time to garden? I don't get it, so much is happening at once, it is a hectic time of year.  Our spring veggies are maxed out by by now and if you havn't started, your garden, now is the time to get going.

When September rolls around you will be dining on Lettuce, Beans, Carrots, Peas and Beets. October, some Kale, Scallions, Peas and Chard along with your Tomatoes and Peppers. So many of us are so busy in the summer, we don't get to enjoy our gardens. Plant Now and you will have lots to Eat and preserve In the Fall when things Slow Down a Little.

Yank out those Nasty Plants!  Did your Lettuce suddenly get Tall and Bitter? Peas Crispy on the Vine? Hot, isn't it? Lettuce bolts in the heat so now is the time to yank it out, toss it on the compost pile and add some fresh organic nutrients, Happy Frog, Chicken Poo, Compost, whatever you prefer. Give the soil a little dig and start with some Fresh Seeds. Lettuce, Peas, Beans, Kale and Chard are great things to Plant Now.

Water is Key. The trick is to Keep the Soil Moist until the seeds sprout. I like to plant in a space that gets a little shade (not hard to find in our back gardens) or cover the ground with some cheese cloth to add a little protection. Make sure you water every morning for about 3 weeks.

Fall Gardens are Wonderful. There is a chill in the air and the madness of spring is long gone, so are the bugs that bug us in the summer. You get to enjoy fresh veggies and have delicious food to enjoy up until Thanksgiving. Last year my Kale and Spinach lasted through the winter without any help at all.

You can Can

Yes you can Can and we have all the Supplies you need to create your own little Canning Factory and the know-how to get you started.

Some times I feel like the Appalachian Laura Ingalls. When I was little, we lived down a dirt road on top of a mountain in the house where my mother grew up. Our closest neighbor was an 80 year old Mennonite lady named Van who had a small farm and still used the hand pump and wooden sink in her kitchen. She made jellies, jams and pickles all summer long. I loved to run down the hill and sit in her kitchen to watch her. I helped shell peas and snap beans in exchange for some fresh jam on home made bread. Wonderful.

I learned to can from my Mother and she learned from her Mother and all of her Mennonite and Amish Friends. They still grow their own food and  make their own Pickles, Jellies and Chutneys. Nothing feels better than pulling out something you made during the summer in the middle of winter, its like opening a jar of sunshine.
Holiday gifts of something you made using your most precious resource, time, are always appreciated and loved. With all the bounty available to us at the farmers market, its awfully tempting. Who knows, you could be starting you own Pickle Empire! Watch out  Brooklyn Brine!

Is it safe? Yes like putting together Ikea Furniture, you just need to follow the directions,  The Ball Blue Book is the one I always turn to when I am double checking a recipe or times for processing. It has the most up to date and safe information. Here is a little video I made about making Jelly.

You don't need a lot of equipment to start, the big pot you make spaghetti in will be just fine. When you are ready to graduate, we have the big, Old Fashioned Enamel Canner that my Amish friends used, and still do. They work and make excellent Ice Buckets at parties too (they use them for lemon aide). The canners come with jar lifters and everything you need to get going. We also have jars in all sorts of sizes and the IMPOSSIBLE to find PECTIN. Pectin made from Citrus Rinds makes the brightest, clearest jelly and it is the only thing I use to make my Lavender and Hot Pepper Jellies.
 

Did Someone ask for Citrus Plants?

We have a fresh shipment of Citrus Plants. Citrus trees like Meyer Lemons, Limes and Oranges make excellent house plants. They love to be outside in the summer and inside in the winter and can produce flowers and fruits year round.

We have a fresh shipment of fruiting plants from 1 gallon (tabletop) to 75 gallon (loft) our 75 gallon tree has five (5) types of citrus grafted onto the branches. Wow.

Here is my recipe for making Meyer Lemon Marmalade. It is so so delicious and would make your mamma proud.

Hope to see you in the Shop Soon!

Cheers!

Kimberly Sevilla

Rose Red & Lavender

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Its Summer!! I haven’t kept my promise to write, we have been so busy with weddings.

Peonies are abound. I love peonies and this year has been an especially good season.  These are for a wedding at the Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I love using creams and whites and yellows with dusky greens, so lemony and creamy don’t you think? Makes me want some Lemon Tarts or some Key Lime Pie.

Summer is also a time for Lavender and Lemons.

I love Meyer lemons and have a hard time finding them. Luckily, they grow great in containers and make perfect house plants. They like bright light and not so much water. If you have an outdoor space they you can put them outside in the summer, and inside in the winter.We have a full selection in our shop in sizes from one gallon to 45 gallons. We even have a 5 in one tree that has Meyer Lemons, Oranges, and Grapefruit, all on the same tree (I am secretly hoping it doesn’t sell)

Here is our recipe for Meyer Lemon Marmalade, Delicious.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade
Makes about 12 jars

Warning: This recipe takes three days.

14 to 15 Meyer Lemons
1 sweet orange
Enough water to cover the fruit, about
4 1/2 to 8 lb of sugar, depending on the size of your lemons

Slice the  in half lengthwise, then into thin horizontal slices, removing the pips as you slice and placing them in a bowl.

Place the lemon slices in the biggest bowl you can find (or two bowls) and cover them with water (I use filtered water). Cover with a plate and set aside in a cool place overnight. Cover the pips with water and set aside, covered, in the refrigerator.

The next day, pour the fruit and its water (not the pip water) into a large saucepan or copper jam basin. Bring to a boil and let the mixture bubble at a steady boil for 40 mins, stirring occasionally. Let this mixture cool, then weigh it and return it to a cool place to rest overnight.

The next day, place the fruit with its water, the strained pip water and an equal weight of sugar in a large saucepan or jam basin. Bring to a boil, then let it boil steadily for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the syrup thickens slightly. To test the marmalade, pour a little onto a small plate that you have chilled in the freezer, then wait a minute. Tilt the plate and if the syrup wrinkles, it’s time to transfer the marmalade to jars.

Use 3 part canning jars, Wash jars with hot soapy water and rinse.

Fill the jars nearly to the top and close the lids as soon as you can (make sure the rims are clean). Invert the jars onto a towel and let rest until cool. Make sure that you have a seal on the lid by taking off the ring and seeing if the lid is depressed and makes a bright tinny noise when you flick it with your finger. If not, replace the lid, cleaning the edge of the jar and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

The marmalade could keep for years or perhaps days, depending on how many marmalade-lovers you know.

As far as lavender goes, we just got in our first harvest of Munstead and Hidcote. Oh the smell is heavenly.

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I love making Jelly. What a terrific way to capture the tastes of Summer in a jar. I started making jelly when I was a little girl. I would help my mother pick the first summer strawberries, and we would make delicious jam.

Our strawberries grew wild, by the edge of the woods, we lived in a house on property on top of a mountain in Western Maryland where my mother’s family had lived since 1720….who knows where those strawberries came from but they were teeny tiny and very, very sweet.
She would make the jam and can it in quilted jelly jars and pour hot wax over the top. Back then, where we lived, jelly jars were small, narrow glasses, some of them had pretty graphics printed on them, others, had fancy quilting and some were just plain. They were sealed with wax, topped with some cotton batting and then covered with a piece of fabric and tied.

We traded our extras with our Mennonite neighbors and it was always a treat to taste what they made.
Our closest neighbor, Van, who lived over the hill, had an old farm house with a pump in the kitchen and a wet sink and a dry sink. The wet sink was made of carved soap stone and the dry sink was made of wood. I loved to visit her and pump water in the kitchen, she was very sweet and always wore black shoes, floral dresses, a clean apron and a little white cap trimmed with lace.

Van made the best pickles which we traded for some strawberry jam.
Yesterday, I did a demonstration at the Williamsburg Farmer’s Market. It was a lot of fun. The day was beautiful and I made Strawberry Jam with Black Pepper and Mint. This is a variation of a classic French recipe that I love. The french version takes 3 days to make, mine takes about 20 minutes.

We started with fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half. To these we added the juice of one lemon and a box of pectin. Pectin comes from sour apples or citrus rind and is completely natural and ok by me to use, its not chemicals and completely necessary for some types of fruits to jel. Stirring, I bought this to a boil and added sugar. I cooked the whole thing until jelly stage and turned off the heat. I added some chopped mint an d a dash of black pepper, stirred and let it sit one minute.
I ladled everything into modern 3 pc. jelly jars which I steralized at home, wiped the rims and inverted the jars.
Strawberry Jam was Born…..
Robert from the market invited us back to make pickles, so stay tuned for some bread and butter slices….recipe from my old Mennonite neighbors.

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I love making wine.

When I was younger, I used to make beer at home. It was fun and I enjoyed going to the beer club and tasting all the beer. I liked the people that I met and I really enjoyed taking notes and adjusting the water, and adding hops at just the right time and temperature.

Eventually, I gave up making beer and moved on to other things.

I had the pleasure of going to an old farmhouse every weekend in upstate new york, and in the basement of the house was a treasure trove of wine making equipment.

Wine…very similar to beer…..I remember seeing wine concentrate at the home brew shops, it was usually dusty and in the back corner. Wine was not something that anyone I knew actually made.

I discovered the outlets for fresh grapes and purchased fresh juice from local vineyards…some batches were better than others and then I moved on to other things.

Last week, the Black Elderberry tree that I planted burst open with blooms. Elderflower is a delightful scent and is something that is not that common here, unless you shop at Ikea. St. Germain, a popular liquor, is made with elderflowers.

I decided to make elderflower wine.

Several years ago, I purchased a chamomile rake to harvest flowers. With the help of the rake, it made picking the florets a pretty easy process.

I used about 4 pints of flowers and 5 lemons and put them in a 5 gallon carboy with a sugar solution, white wine yeast and some nutrient. The final SG was about 1.060 which will make a very, very mild wine.

The color is slowly turning pink and the smell is amazing. Can’t wait to try it.

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Valentine’s Day has begun for us and we just got in our first shipment of flowers. We stagger our flowers so that we don’t get overwhelmed and the roses always come first so they have a little time to open and be beautiful. I have hundreds and hundreds of roses waiting for me.

I love roses, I just do. I know they are a cliche for valentines day, but when a rose is done right, they are magical and last a super long time in the vase. There is a reason that they are a cliche and we mix ours with thistle and waxflower so that they shine and look dramatic. I always make something that I would like to get myself.

I take pride in my roses and book them months in advance for Valentine’s Day. This year we have a few varieties, Charlotte, Forever Young and Wanted. I am very particular about the farms where my roses come from and will only buy from veriflora certified sources and especially one farm in particular, because they always get it right.

Charlotte, is a nice, friendly red rose. The stems are usually not to thick and the thorns are small. The blossom is squat with a lot of petals. I like it mixed with tea roses and other flowers, it mixes well. This Charlotte always plays nicely with others.

Forever Young is the Cadallic of roses. These guys are available up to 100cm long, which is about waist high. They have thick, beefy stems and thorns that are mothers, IYKWIM. The blossoms are long and the petals curl back perfectly. They stand alone and look best when they are the main attraction. The classic rose for a box of roses or arranged in a vase.

The last rose, my personal favorite is Wanted. Wanted is a garden rose and has a high petal count. It looks like a peony and has really rich, deep reds that tend to be almost brown. I love mixing these with blackberries and other flowers, or using them in simple, small arrangements. They have a terrific texture and are very romantic.

We also have some beautiful peonies and anemones for Valentine’s day and along with our very popular Mason Jars with Burlap, we are also featuring Vintage Milk Glass and Mint Julep Cups.

I noticed that another shop in the area is featuring Mason Jars and flowers with Burlap and Blackberries with fern seems like she may have been “inspired” by last year’s photos? Even my dad had a chuckle over that. That’s ok, I get inspired by other people’s work too. Who was it who said that imitation is the best form of flattery? Notice the Three Roses Bourbon bottle in the back, do you see a trend here?

Milk glass is white, translucent type of depression glass. It was popular in the 50′s and 60′s and I have been snapping it up left and right. I love the textures and the shapes of the vases. It has a country type of feeling that is a little dressed up. The hobnail vases are just sexy in themselves, all those bumps…We are using peonies and romantic flowers with our milkglass, I hope it becomes a new classic for Valentine’s Day.

Mint julep cups are small, silver cups that are used in the south to serve mint juleps. I remember sipping a few at my sister’s Virginia wedding. The cup gets nice and frosty and you have to use a straw or your lip will stick to the metal. Anyone old enough to remember those old aluminum cups or metal ice cube trays will know what I mean. Being from the south, gives me a natural affinity for Bourbon and I couldn’t resist mixing the cups with berries, purple flowers and roses. By the way, Bourbon was invented in Virginia, not Kentucky.

I hope you get your orders in early, We always use the best flowers first and when we are out, we are out and we always sell out.

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MAKING JELLY

Kimberly Here from Rose Red & Lavender and I am here to show you how to make preserves and jam out of fresh summer fruit.

I gave myself a bit of a challenge and decided to teach a class on how to make jelly. Simple right, yes, I have probably made hundreds of batches of jelly, jams, and chutneys in my life. My personal challenge was to make jelly out of whatever I found in my garden that morning.

FIGS!!! my garden is in Brooklyn and Figs love it here. I have a wonderful green fig tree that is a few years old now and I am blessed with beautiful figs. After making friends with my neighbors, I have the promise of having more figs to add to my collection. Almost every old Italian here has a fig tree in their yard, and many of the trees were brought over from Italy. In the fall, if you are nice, they will trade their branches for your branch. I have a pink fig, a small black fig and a large black fig coming my way. I love to think about the history of the trees and imagine how long they have been growing, I may be eating the same fig that Caesar ate.

Figs are pretty crazy once they get established and you need to keep them pruned to keep them under control. They root pretty easily as well. The trick is to take a branch in the fall, give it a fresh, clean cut and stick it in the ground about 6-8″ deep. In the spring, chances are it will develop roots and grow a new tree. Magic! Talk about giving a branch, it should have been called, “giving a fig branch” Sharing a love of figs and a love of gardening will go a long way with your Italian neighbors, you may even be invited over for dinner one day, yum.

I also bought some strawberries at the farmers market, just in case. Strawberries are great for making preserves and I wanted to share two of my favorite recipes. I prepared the strawberries ahead of time and while the figs were macerating in the sugar, I made the strawberry preserves.

Strawberry Preserves With Mint and Black Pepper

2 1/2 lbs of strawberries
3 3/4 cups of sugar (800g)
Juice of one lemon
5 fresh mint leaves
5 ground peppercorns

Rinse the strawberries and dry. Add lemon juice and sugar and cook for 2 minutes string. Remove from heat and put in a glass or stainless steel bowl and cover. Let rest overnight in the fridge.

Pour into a sieve bring the syrup to boil and cook until jelly stage, (221 degrees Fahrenheit)

Add Strawberries, Mint and Pepper

Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. skim off foam and stir gently.

Turn off heat and let sit for 1 minute.

FIG with Fresh Bay and Cardamom

2 1/4 lbs of figs cut in half or quarters
3 1/4 c sugar (700g)
3 1/2 oz honey (100g)
6 fresh bay leaves
2 fresh cardamom leaves
Juice of 1 lemon

Rinse and dry figs, cut into quarters or into thin slices, whichever you prefer.

Combine figs, with sugar, honey and lemon juice. Cover and let rest for a bit, overnight in the refrigerator is best.

Pour into pan, add leaves and bring to a simmer.

Cook on high for 5 minutes. Remove leaves.

Cook until Jelly stage, (221 deg) and remove from heat.

Let rest 1 minute and process.

How to Can Jelly

Making jelly is easy and fun. There are some basic rules to follow and after that, go crazy. Most fruits have enough pectin to jell, some though like cherries, pears, and infusions will need added pectin. You can use commercial powders or apple juice or cider to add pectin.

Jelly requires three things, Pectin, Sugar, and a Low PH. You need at least 65% sugar to make jelly. This can be achieved by adding sugar, or by cooking the fruit down until the sugar content is concentrated. Adding sugar is easy and cheap and makes a nice, bright jelly, cooking down the fruit enhances the natural sugars in fruit but will result in a very cooked taste and is best reserved for conserves, chutneys or butters and not jams and jellies.

Jelly stage is when jelly gels. This happens at 221 degrees Fahrenheit. In chemistry, this is referred to as changing states. Changing states is what happens when water changes to ice, or to steam, or when your liquid fruit juice changes to a gel. Changing states takes almost as much energy as raising the temperature, you will notice that the temperature steadily climbs and then holds at about 220 for a minute and then BAM, 221 and it changes state.

I always give the jelly a good stir at this point to make sure. After awhile you will know when this happens because the nature of the boil and the foam changes. You can also tell by looking at the fruit, it will become somewhat clear when the temperature reaches the jelly stage. My mother would drop a spoon full in cold water or take some on a metal spoon. The juice quickly cools and when it is the jelly stage, it gels on the spoon or in the water. Honestly though, as fun as this method is, it can result in overcooked, flabby jelly (sorry mom) if you are not careful.

Basic Equipment

Large pot like a spaghetti pot (not aluminum)
Wide, shallow saucepan
Wooden or silicone spoon
Canning Kit
Clean, Lint free towels like flour sack towels
A canning thermometer (optional but essential for beginners)
Jelly Jars with 2 part lids (I like the 8oz and 4oz best)

WHAAATT?? You probably have most of this stuff, except for the canning kits which are about 12 bucks and the jars which you can pick up from our shop (hint, hint).

Wipe down all work surfaces with hot, hot water, cover with clean towels.
Clean jars and lids in hot, hot soapy water, rinse.
Place jars in boiling water bath for five minutes
Remove using jar tool and place UPSIDE DOWN on a clean, dry towel.
Place lids and bands in a bowl and cover with boiling water

Do this right before you cook your jelly. Jelly cooks fast, I usually do all the prep work, slicing dicing, measuring, ect….set everything aside, process my jars, and then cook the jelly.
When I had a dishwasher, I washed the jars and then put the dishwasher on DRY and left them in the washer until ready to use.
I have also put them in the oven at 225 degrees, but don’t love that method.

Dip your funnel in boiling water before use and dip your ladle in boiling water before use. Think, anything that touches jelly, must be dipped in boiling water….this means you never, ever touch your jelly you will get burnt, fast.

Using your funnel, ladle the jelly into the jars. Work fast. Fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Most jar funnels will have markings on the inside so you can see where to fill to.
Dip the corner of a clean towel into boiling water and wipe off the rims of the jar.
Attach lids and bands and INVERT the jars.

Let cool a few hours, remove the bands and test to see if the lid is sealed tight. If not, Clean the rim of the jar and the lid, reseal and place the whole thing in boiling water for 10 min.
When storing, loosen the bands halfway. You don’t want them to be tight because if there is spoilage, then the lids wont pop up and you may not notice.
Never eat food from a jar that does not have a tight seal, you should hear a POP when you open the lid.
Never eat food from a jar that has visible mold or slime on the top, while this is a rare occurrence, its better to be safe, it probably won’t make you sick, but it will taste nasty.
When I was a kid, we used special 4oz jars that had a design on them wax to seal our jelly and put cotton on top with a piece of fabric and tied it, you know the iconic jelly jars with the fabric. Occasionally you would see mold on the jelly sometimes my mother would spoon it off and we would eat the jelly anyway, this was common then.

And that’s how you make jelly. Its easy and fun. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Warmest Regards,

Kimberly Sevilla

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