I couldn't resist taking a morning to make Lilac and Violet flowers into jelly and syrup. It was a good day to work in the kitchen with it being damp and dreary outside. The Lilac flowers were perfect, and the Violets were in full bloom too. These jars will look so pretty on the pantry shelf.
Jelly
2 cups of lilac
2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
1 3 oz packet of sure jell liquid
It took some time to remove all the flowers from the stems making sure that no green was left on the buds. I only had a 1/4 cup of violets, so the jelly was mainly lilac flowers. The combination of the two made a lovely violet color.
After simmering the flowers in the water, I strained the liquid into a measuring cup and added just a little more water to make 2 cups.
I returned the liquid to the pan and brought it to a rolling boil, then added the pectin. It needed to boil for 1 minute before adding the sugar in, stir until it dissolved, then I added the lemon juice. I let the jelly come to a hard rolling boil for about 5 minutes, stirring it the entire time.
Once the liquid was at a jell state, I put the jelly into hot jars and water-bath canned them for 10 minutes.
Lilac Syrup
2 cups lilac flowers
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
Making the syrup is the same process as the jelly, except it doesn't have any pectin. The syrup is great added to cocktails or lemonade for a different flavor. I like to drizzle a little syrup onto my homemade yogurt to give it a little sweetness.
Now that Dandelions are in full bloom, I need to pick a basket full and get them into the dehydrator. I plan to make a batch of soap and some balm with them, perhaps on the next rainy day.
