Using Your Resources: Dandelion Jelly

Homesteading is about having the “know-how” to make use of your resources to add variety to your life. Contrary to many people’s opinion, a person’s resources are not limited to their monetary income. In this case, resources could mean a lawn full of weeds!

Dandelions actually have many uses. The entire plant is edible, so the recipe options for this humble friend are actually quite lengthy. However, we are just going to focus on one today: Dandelion Jelly. For me, Dandelion Jelly is like a “poor man’s honey.” This simple recipe turns what is commonly overlooked, considered a weed or worse, into something to enjoy with breakfast or any occasion!

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This recipe makes a bright sunny citrus-honey flavored jelly. It is great for adding to a morning muffin or biscuit, or by the spoonful to sweeten your tea. This jelly is also a great way to get your kids interested and involved in learning about plants. Other fun learning connections include the economics and problem solving skills involved in utilizing overlooked resources around your own homestead!

We decided to go the full sugar route with this recipe; due to the fact my family mostly uses it as a honey substitute. We tried a lower sugar option with the “no added sugar needed” pectin, following the pectin box for sweeten to taste. It works well, but since you are utilizing an herbal tea rather than fruit juice, like in a standard jelly, we found the taste rather lacking. The low sugar version was quite tart and missing some of the full body complexity that the sugar version contained.

Ingredients:
1 quart jar of loosely packed dandelion petals
2 quarts water
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (1.75oz) box of powdered pectin
2 teaspoons vanilla
7 cups sugar (I like to use a mixture of both white and brown to give it a richer color and more complex flavor.)
1-2 teaspoons orange or lemon zest (optional)
1 teaspoon lavender blossoms (optional)

Start by having some helpers gather dandelion blossoms with you.

You want nice fully blossomed flowers. Make sure to pick your flowers in an area that is FREE FROM PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES, ANIMAL DROPPINGS and TRAFFIC EXHAUST.

Next, you want to remove the green stem and head, keeping only the bright yellow petals. Otherwise the milky sap from the Dandelion will make your jelly bitter. You will want to do this shortly after picking and before the flowers start to close up on you. Once closed, it is much harder to remove the petals.

Remember Dandelion petals will turn everything they touch yellow, so take this into account if using a plastic bowl or light colored dishcloth for cleanup. The milky sap can also be fun to scrub off of plastic buckets I found out. 😉

Now it is on to making the tea. This can be done in one of three ways: sun, soak, or boil. If adding lavender blossoms, add them to your water with the dandelion blossoms.

For the sun tea method: start by adding the petals to a 2 quart jar and fill with room temperature water. Place the jar in a sunny location outdoors. The sun’s rays heat up the water and brew the tea. Sun tea makes a slightly milder and lighter tea, but requires sunny weather and up to a full day to brew.

The soak method, also called infusion, is the gold standard of formal tea making. Place you petals in a tea pot or heat resistant glass jar and cover with 2 quarts of water that is just starting to boil. This method produces the best tasting tea, but can take an hour or more to steep.

The boil method, also called decoction, is the quickest method. Place you petals and 2 quarts of water in a pot. Bring to a full boil and boil for 8-12 minutes. This method produces a darker and more greenish tinted tea, which is slightly bitterer than the former method.

While your tea is steeping, wash and sterilize your jars and set aside.

Take your cooled tea and strain using cheesecloth or clean cotton rag.

At this point you will have a grassy, chamomile smelling tea light yellow in color with maybe a slight greenish hue to it. You will need 2 quarts of liquid, so measure your tea and add any necessary water to reach this amount.

Pour the tea into a large saucepan. Add your lemon juice, pectin and zest.

Bring the mixture to a rapid boil. (This is a boil that keeps going even when being stirred.)

Slowly add in your sugar. Stirring constantly, continue to boil for 3 minutes longer. Turn off the heat. Skim off any foam, if seen, and add in the vanilla.

Pour into clean sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Add lids and rings. Make sure rings are snug but not overly tight.

Place your jars in a water-bath canner. Add water to cover one inch over the jars.

Bring canner to a boil and process for ten minutes. Let cool slightly, and remove jars.

Check seals once completely cool. (When sealed, lid should not spring back when gently touched in the middle.) Let jelly sit for at least a minimum of 24-48 hours to allow it to properly set up before using. Keep in mind that pectin based jelly can take up to 3 weeks to fully set up, so taste-testing jars opened after 48 hours will not reflect the final thickness of the jelly.

Enjoy!

When life gives you Dandelions: make jelly! Homesteading Hen

*Photography credit goes to my amazing 7y old photographer in training for helping with some of the photography for this post! You did an AWESOME job helping Mama! 🙂