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| Lilac Jelly |
I have a ton of lilacs and they look and smell wonderful. I googled "are lilacs edible" and found out that they are! I also found a recipe for lilac jelly at this wonderful site:
http://the3foragers.blogspot.ca/2011/05/lilac-recipe-lilac-jelly.html . I decided I had to try it.
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| Picking lilacs to make lilac jelly |
I have deep purple, regular and white lilac trees in my yard. I decided to leave out the white, in order to get more color (or so I hoped).
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| Plucking flowers of lilacs for lilac jelly |
I sat on the deck yesterday morning and pulled the flowers off the lilacs, one by one. At first I felt bad about this, but soon I entered a relaxed, zen like state. The fragrance was absolutely amazing. The recipe called for 2 tightly packed cups of flowers, and it took about an hour to get that many.
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| Rinsing lilacs |
Next I rinsed the lilac flowers. Aren't they gorgeous?
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| Getting ready to pour boiling water on lilac flowers |
I put the lilacs in a sterilized jam jar, and put water on to boil, outside, so I wouldn't steam the house up.
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| Lilac infusion, or tea |
I really, really hated the next step, but I did it. I poured boiling water over the lilac flowers...but not before apologizing first. Poor flowers. I put the lid on and headed out to camp so the flowers could sit overnight.
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| Front yard at camp, Goulais Bay, Lake Superior |
The next day, I strained the flowers through a coffee filter that I placed in a clean strainer.
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| straining lilac infusion |
I was very surprised by the color of the resulting liquid...a sort of orangy-brown.
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| Strained lilac infusion/tea |
I added 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and wow, did it ever turn colors fast! I love this deep, vibrant pink.
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| lilac infusion with lemon added |
Next I added the pectin, and watched the color deepen. I was beginning to feel like a witch, or alchemist.
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| lilac infusion with lemon and pectin added |
I added the 4 cups of sugar, and the mixture turned a milky pink. It came to a boil so quickly that it overboiled. Next time, I need to remember to use a bigger pot.
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| lilac mixture with sugar added |
The recipe said to cook it for 1 minute and then put it in a water bath for 10 minutes. I, with my mathematically challenged brain, reversed the numbers and cooked it for 10 minutes, and watched it turn back into the original orangey-brown color. Sigh.
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| Overcooked lilac jelly |
Then I poured it into sterilized preserving jars...the tiny ones...and put it in a water bath for 1 minute. Then I reread the directions and realized it should stay in for 10 minutes, so I left it in for 10 minutes, lol.
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| Lilac jelly in water bath |
My mother gave all of my canning equipment away and I didn't have the $50 bucks to buy a new starter kit so I rigged up a tinfoil pan with wire to set the jars on so they could be easily lifted out. It looks awful, but it worked.
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| Finished Lilac Jelly |
The finished lilac jelly tastes amazing, even though I overcooked it by 9 minutes, lol. It is sweet, but with a touch of tang. It reminds me of candy (not caramel) apples. You know, the pretty red candy apples? Sort of like that. Very yummy.
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| Finished lilac jelly |
I will defnitely make this again,and not cook it for as long next time. I think I would have ended up with Lilac Candy if I would have cooked it even a minute longer, lol. Mine is very think...but yummy.
Next time, I will use a bigger pot, and NOT overcook the stuff.
If you try this, I'd love to see the results. Take care!
