Try forsythia petal jelly for your spring spread
I couldn’t resist picking a whole bunch of wild forsythia blossoms to make my annual batch of forsythia jelly.
Mother Nature provides a variety of edible blossoms in the spring for tossing into salads and grains, stirring into drinks and for making jellies and jams.
Think batches of the prettiest and subtle tasting jellies you’ve ever dolloped on a toasted muffin. Or spooned into the center of jam cookies. Get where I’m going here?
You don’t have to roam a country road to find these gems. Take a look in your yard.
That redbud tree bursts with edible pink blossoms before leafing out.
Soft lavender lilacs are fragrant.
Pluck dandelion flowers for jelly and add the small, nutritious leaves to salads and omelets.
Violets seem to be everywhere and easy to spot with bright purple petals.
Honeysuckle here on my little patch of heaven is not considered an invasive plant. It holds the hill going down to the river from eroding.
The flowers are sweet and abundant.
All of these spring flowers are pollinator magnets and you know how important that is for our environment.
Let the little ones help. Their small fingers are adept at plucking delicate blossoms. The bonus? Good exercise, and time well spent learning lessons in food science and caring for God’s good earth.
Let’s revisit my recipe for wild and other spring petal jellies with precise instructions for success, every time.
Caution before picking
First, make a positive identification. There are look-a-likes that are not edible. Pick petals only and pick “clean” No pesticides or environmental toxins. Not sure? Don’t pick!
Flower petal jelly
Here’s how many to pick for a batch of jelly.
Measure before gently rinsing.
Redbud, lilac and honeysuckle: 3 cups packed flowers to 4 cups boiling water
Violet and forsythia: 4 cups packed flowers to 4 cups boiling water
Dandelion: 2 cups packed flowers to 4 cups boiling water.
Place rinsed and well-drained
boiling water over.
Weigh down with saucer to keep petals under water.
Infuse 12 hours or so at room temperature.
Strain, pressing down on solids. You need 3 cups infusion. If not, add water to make 3 cups. (Infusion can be frozen for 6 months).
Make your jelly
Yield: about 6 jars, 8 oz each.
3 cups petal infusion
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
1 box powdered pectin, 41⁄2 cups sugar
Boil jars
15 minutes.
flowers in bowl. Pour
Keep in hot water.
Keep seals and rings in hot, not boiling, water.
Place infusion, lemon juice and pectin in big pot.
Over high heat, bring to rolling boil, one that cannot be stirred down, stirring constantly.
Continue stirring, add sugar all at once and bring back to rolling boil. Boil 1 minute.
Pour into hot jars, 1⁄8-inch from top. Remove foam.
Wipe rims with clean, wet cloth.
Place seals and rings on jars.
Invert 5 minutes. Turn upright. Cool from drafts.
Check seals. Refrigerate unsealed jars.
Shelf stable for 6 months.