Tutorial: How to Make Dandelion Jelly

Last winter while studying wild edible plants, I discovered a recipe for herbal jelly.  We rounded up some jars from Goodwill and between rainstorms this week, we picked flowers like mad foragers.

By sundown, we had collected about a gallon of flowers.

We also found a recipe for violet jam from SouleMama earlier this week.  Since we were already playing in the dirt, we decided to give it a try too.

                                                         Photo by Cole 

To prepare the flowers we picked all the petals off of the violets and snipped the yellow rays off of the dandelions.  By the time we got them all ready to cook it was bedtime, so we stuck them in the freezer overnight.

                                                         Photo by Cole

                                                         Photo by Cole

Our recipe::  Boil the flowers with 1 C.water until all the color was gone from the petals. Let it cool and strain all the petals from tea.

Then we added about another cup of water, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 C. honey and a package of pectin.  Bring it to a rolling boil for a couple of minutes until thick and pour into sterilized jars.  

We go through so much jelly around here that we didn't bother sealing them, but you could if you wanted to preserve a large quantity.  The recipe made about two small 2 jars.  

 

Mostly it just tasted like jellied honey, but it was a fun project and we all agreed on making it a spring tradition every year.