It still amazes me how many people buy into the propaganda that the dandelion is a bad thing, hook, line and stinker. There was a community employee on the news last night complaining that killing dandelions the old-fashioned way, without the aid of chemical pesticides, is so time-consuming. Chemicals, he said, are easier.And EASE is apparently more important than health and environmental issues to this genius. Right. Funny thing is, like most natural plants, dandelions only blossom for a couple/few weeks, then they're done for the year. While some are stressing during this time about how to KILL KILL KILL those little yellow flowers, I'm stressing that there aren't enough on my lawn. I mean, it takes a quart and half of the little buds to make one small batch of dandelion jelly, and last year I couldn't make enough to satisfy demand.
This year too will no doubt see me running across the lawn, flapping my arms maniacally, all in an effort to save the dandelion blossoms from Hubby's lawn mowing efforts. It's ok. The neighbours already think I'm nuts. This year I'm going to try to get out there before he does and get those blossoms. In fact, I'd be doing it right now, but there just aren't enough yet. C'mon dandelions!
Dandelion Jelly
Pick about 1 and a half quarts of dandelion flowers. Then sit at your kitchen table and, with an insane smirk on your face that will scare your family, rip all the yellow petals out of the green bottom and put them into a 2 cup measure. You don't want any green in there... just the yellow petals. It's tedious, so you might as well have fun doing it by giggling and scaring your family. ;o)
Place 2 cups of petals into a saucepan and add 2 and 1/4 cups of water. Cover and bring this to a boil, then turn off burner and allow to cool, making sure all the petals are soaked. Keep the infusion, as is with cover on, in your fridge overnight. In the morning, strain this thru cheesecloth, squeezing to get all the liquid. You will need 2 cups of dandelion infusion.
Put infusion into large saucepan. Add the zest of 1 large lemon + the juice of same... should be 1/4 cup of lemon juice, so squeeze another half lemon if needed. Add 4 1/2 cups of refined sugar. Bring this to a boil, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon. When it reaches a full rolling boil, add 1 package of Certo liquid pectin, then boil again for 1 full minute and remove from heat. At this point, I added 1 drop of glycol-free red food colouring to give it a pretty, rosy glow. Stir it for a few mins. whilst you pour boiling water over your jar lids, jam funnel and ladle. (Clean jars should be in the oven being sterilized ~ 250 degrees for 20 mins.) Ladle jelly into hot, sterilized jars thru funnel, wipe rim with hot, damp, sterilized cloth, and place hot sterilized lids on jars to fingertip tight. Place on counter to seal (when you hear the pop). Recipe makes 4 1/2 jars of dandelion jelly. It is good, all citrusy and earthy, great on crackers with sunflower seed or peanut butter.. a little dab of jelly will do it. Enjoy!
For instructions on preserving, go to:http://quillingartandmore.blogspot.com/p/preparations-for-preserving.html
USE JAMS AND JELLIES RESPONSIBLY!
Mmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteSinfully good! 8D
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