Wildflower Jelly

This is a recipe that can be tailored to fit your needs.  Just make sure the flowers you use are edible, of course ;).

For this particular batch of wildflower jelly I used a combination of fireweed blossoms and Johnny Jump Up blossoms.  I used 1/3 fireweed blossoms and 2/3 Johnny Jump ups.  It has a unique flavor, but is really tasty!

Some flowers, such as dandelions, when you make them into jelly they tend to come out tasting honey-like.  This jelly came out tasting...well to me kind of grape-like (mildly so) with a cranberry-like note to it.  Like I said, unique but tasty!

Wildflower Jelly

• 3 cups wildflower juice*
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 box regular powdered pectin

Procedure:

Prepare canner, jars and lids with standard sanitation practices set forth by our friendly FDA (or your local government agency).

Put wildflower juice* in a large saucepan.  Add lemon juice and pectin and whisk until pectin is completely dissolved.  Bring mixture to a boil.

Add sugar all at once and whisk till dissolved.  Bring mixture back to a rolling boil and keep boil going for one minute (or amount of time specified by your pectin).

Ladle hot jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace.  Secure lids on jars and process in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes.  Remove lid from canner and turn off heat under canner.  Leave for five more minutes.

Remove jars from canner and allow to cool.  Let cool completely, check seals and store.

Makes approximately 5, 8 oz jars.

*To Make Wildflower Juice:  Place 8 cups tightly packed wildflower blossoms into a saucepan and add enough water to just cover blossoms.  Boil mixture until flowers turn grey.  Turn off heat under pot and allow mixture to cool.  Strain liquid into catch bowl.  Mixture should be a nice bright color (purple, pink, etc) if the mixture is brown looking you didn't use enough blossoms. 

When you go to make jelly, if your mixture is a nice bright color and you don't have quite enough juice, add water or apple juice to bring you up to 3 cups.  If you have more than 3 cups, measure out 3 cups for the recipe.

If you aren't ready to make jelly, you can pour juice into a freezer bag and freeze until ready to make jelly.