Flower Jellies
On my journey of learning more skills, I was able to reach out to my sister in Christ, Megan Sechrest to teach me how to make flower jellies. She was so sweet to come to my home and share her recipe (see sidebar) and her skills. We had amazing fellowship, and now my daughter and I have a yearly activity to do together.
Let me introduce you to Megan:
As a wife and mother of 3, I am always trying to “do better” when it comes to food for my family. Starting with growing my own food and preserving that food. If I cant (yes it happens, I’ve got only a mildly green thumb) then I love finding someone locally that can grow it or raises it and buy from them. We pick, dig up and collect so many different things to preserve and my family enjoys all of it. I’ve made or canned jams/jellies, lemonade concentrates, meats, veggies, milk and fats, extracts and sugar blends. But my secret canning joy is giving those things away. I love seeing other people find joy in something I made them. Something I picked and processed and preserved with them in mind. I hope one day to pass those same skills and joys to my kids and to other people that would love them.
This process takes time to forage for the flowers, clean and steep flowers in water, and then use flower tea to make jelly. See recipe inserts for detailed instructions on making flower jelly. The flowers we love to forage for in this area are dandelion, redbud, and wild violet.
(CLICK ON PICTURE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH FLOWER)
This is a great activity to do with other ladies and your kiddos. Eden and I just finished a patch of redbud and violet jelly, and she enjoyed it so much.
Recipes by Megan:
RECIPE WITH NO REFINED SUGAR, BUT WITH HONEY:
- 4 CUPS CUPS FRESH PICKED FLOWERS (WASH AND POUR BOILING WATER TO COVER THEM, SHOULD BE ABOUT 3 1/2 – 4 CUPS WATER)
- AFTER WATER HAS COOLED, PLACE IN REFRIDGATOR FOR 24 HOURS TO STEEP
- AFTER THE 24 HOURS, TAKE YOUR FLOWER TEA AND DRAIN OFF FLOWERS TO COLLECT FLOWER TEA (SHOULD BE ABOUT 4 CUPS FLOWER TEA).
- PLACE FLOWER TEA IN POT, THEN PLACE 1/4 CUP LEMON JUICE, AND PLACE 1 PACKAGE OF SURE-JELL (I HAVE USED THE NO SUGAR ADDED SURE-JELL AND IT DOES CAUSE THE END PRODUCT TO SET BETTER, BUT THERE IS AN ADDED TARTNESS TO THE TASTE) OR 1/3 CUP FRUIT PECTIN, THEN BRING TO A BOIL.
- AFTER BOIL, PLACE 2-3 CUPS RAW HONEY (DEPENDING ON THE TASTE AND WHAT PECTIN YOU USE),
- BRING TO A BOIL AND ALLOW IT TO BOIL FOR 2 MINTUES.
