Dandelion Jelly

Rita~'s Note:

This is a beautiful golden, clear, delicate, tasting jelly. Avoid the bitter milk in the flower stems, and any green parts it is UNPLEASANT! Great for gift giving. If you want to add more color add a couple drops of yellow. I found no need. Lavender Sugar With Vanilla is fabulous in this recipe used as the sugar or add a vanilla bean to the 3 cups of dandelion liquid for vanilla flavor. May 2011-I did a sun tea approach. I put the flowers in a large jar added 3 cups hot water and placed in the sun then left at room temperature for 24 hours. Strained then proceeded with the recipe.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 7 jars

• 1 quart of lightly packed fresh organic bright dandelion flowers (try to use only yellow petals discarding the green which I just pinch off)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zest of, thinly chopped (optional)
• 5 1/2 cups sugar, or
• 5 1/2 cups lavender sugar with vanilla, Lavender Sugar With Vanilla
• 1 vanilla bean, split (optional)
• 1 (1 3/4 ounce) package dry pectin

Directions:

1. Using stainless steel pan, boil the flowers in 2 quarts of spring water for 10 minutes, cool, and strain, pressing the liquid out of the flowers gently, then restrain through a coffee filter.
2. Measure 3 cups of the liquid, add the lemon juice, zest and pectin. Optional: add 1 split vanilla bean.
3. Put into a deep jelly kettle and bring to a rolling boil, then add sugar and stir to mix well.
4. Stir and boil hard for 1 1/2 minutes, or until mixture sheets from a wooden spoon, skim, carefully remove vanilla pod, pour into hot clean half pint jelly jars and seal.
5. May 4,2010 - I made using 6 cups liquid, 7 cups sugar juice of 1 lemon just over 4 tablespoons, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 1.75oz(49)grams of pectin. Making 9 1/2 pint jars.

Reviews

[Chef #1261029]

I tried this both with the zest and without. I would definitely recommend NOT using the zest. It was inedible, and I ended up throwing that batch out. Happily, the quart of tightly packed leaves and two quarts of water produces almost exactly enough to make two batches, so I was able to make the second batch without the zest. Much more the honey-taste that others have noted. Slight bitter/wild taste from the dandelions, but still an interesting overall product. The 10 minutes prep time obviously does not include the time it takes both to pick the dandelions and to remove the green parts. It took approximately 1,000 blossoms to result in 1 quart of tightly packed petals. Removing the green part from 1,000 blossoms took almost 90 minutes, even after I got the hang of it. In re: boiling until it sheets off the spoon, I tried that on the first batch and gave up after about six minutes. On the second batch, I followed the Sure-Jell directions (boil at full rolling boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat), and that batch gelled nicely. Like one of the other posters, I WBC the jelly for 5 minutes.

[Kate57]

This is my first attempt at dandelion jelly. With the abundance of this crop in our farm yard I should have been making this a staple food many years ago. I made the larger batch with pectin, and the only thing I did differently was to add 1/2 tsp butter to cut any foam (which there was none to skim) and use my vegetable peeler to make long strips of the lemon zest to add, which I removed after the cooking process. The candied lemon zest is an added bonus if you like citrus!
My jelly is not a light yellow like the photos, and in fact after filtering the juice, it looked mossy green. After the jelly making process in the half pint jars it is more of a dark golden color - maybe like a dark honey color. I wonder if soil type and other stuff I don't know about would affect the natural color. Anyway, my final thought is I will be making this a regular spring activity. The jelly is unique - the after taste is a bit like green tea - and it is very wonderful. Thank-you Rita for sharing this recipe.

[np52378]

I just made this last night...for Mother's Day my kids and I picked a ton of dandelion flowers and I proceeded to make the jelly!! I used vanilla extract and a little orange zest instead of lemon ( I did use the lemon juice though) The kids had it for breakfast this morning and they LOVED it!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!! I still can't believe how easy it was...