Two Cup Jelly – Floral Jelly
This quick and easy recipe makes a pint of jelly or glaze or syrup out of any edible flower. The recipe can be made suitable for water bath canning by bringing the acid levels up with the addition of two tablespoons of lemon juice. Use whatever edible blossoms are available (suggestions: redbud, dandelion, borage, violets, roses, nasurtiums (spicy!), and many more!).
Ingredients
- 2 cups any edible blossom dandelion, violet, redbud, rose, nasturtium
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 3 tbsp pectin not needed for syrup
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (optional if not canning)
Instructions
Prepare Blossoms
- Harvest blossoms in season.
- Pick out sticks or stems or insects as required. Wash if needed. I don't go overboard with removing every speck of green from the blossoms and the jellies keep true to color and taste.
Make Tea
- Pour two cups of boiling water over the blossoms and steep until desired coloring is achieved (blossoms are faded)l.
- Science aside: For many flowers like violet or hydrangea which have a blue color tea, the color can be altered by adding lemon juice. The acid in the lemon adds an extra hydrogen atom to the color molecule skewing it toward pink or orange. The more acid you add the more the color will change. This dark blue violet tea turned two colors of purple with the addition of different quantities of lemon juice.
To Make Jelly
- Bring the floral tea to a simmer.
- Add pectin per instructions on packet. Usually, add the pectin and boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the sugar and bring back to a boil for several minutes. If you boil it a little less than the pectin instructions say, you'll wind up with a soft jelly that makes a wonderful glaze for berry deserts.
- If canning, add lemon juice or white vinegar. Pour into clean, hot jars, wipe jar mouths, add lids and rings, and water bath can for 10 minutes.
- If eating fresh and refrigerating, pour into a clean pint jar and cool to enjoy!
To Make Syrup
- Skip adding the pectin and simply boil to reduce volume until the desired texture is reached (suggested till candy thermometer reads 220 F.
- For soda flavoring syrup, simply dissolve the sugar in the flower tea and pour into jars for refrigeration.