Projects & Recipes
Flower jelly is easy to make and can be made from almost any flower, we used hollyhocks. Years ago when our home was a functioning elementary school, Peggy a friend up the road, planted hollyhocks in front of the school. Here we are years later and they are running rampant. Each year before the buds fall off, I walk through and cut about half into a bowl and leave the rest to seed out for the next year. The kids and I then take our blooms and turn them into wonderful jelly. Sadly I wasn’t thinking this year when my roses bloomed, and we missed it. The basic flower jelly recipe is pretty much the same everywhere.
Basic flower jelly
2c. Flower Infusion
1/4c. Lemon Juice
4c. Sugar
1-3oz. Liquid Pectin pkg
Doing the deed
To make a flower infusion if you do not know, is a simple process. Remove the pistol inside& greenery from the outside of the blossom. You will need 2 cups of flowers to make 2 cups of infusion. Put your blossoms in a bowl and pour 2 cups of boiling water over them, cover bowl with a lid of some type and let sit overnight. Strain your liquid from your blossoms and there you have your infusion, the juice. Don’t be disheartened if you used dark pink and the liquid looks murky and dark. The color will come back in the following steps. In a sauce pan pour in your flower infusion, lemon juice and sugar. Stir over medium heat until you have a boil. Next add your package of liquid Pectin and stir at a boil for another minute. Remove from heat and transfer into your canning jars, seal and let cool. Each flower will produce much different tastes and we have found hollyhock to be excellent. Wonderful on toast and just as yummy with pork. A little fruity, very sweet and so pretty in the jars. Next time you walk around your yard or pass a patch of flowers, think of how tastey & beautiful they would look in a jar as jelly.
Leave a comment