Flower Jellies in the Spring

Today as I drove into town I saw that the Redbud trees in our area are starting to bloom. And I remembered the delicious jelly I made from them, and later from the Black Locust trees on our farm. Redbud trees in full bloom are gorgeous. They are a member of the Legume family, which means their flowers are edible, and because of their lovely color, make a gorgeous jelly!

I cannot tell a lie, I did not develop the recipe I used myself, I found it online here:
Frugal Like Grandma

Clearly, this blogger has her stuff together, and not just because we have the same taste in blog backgrounds.

At any rate, I went out last spring and spent quite a long time picking redbud blossoms (the most tedious part is the picking and cleaning of the flowers.) I rinsed them and then followed the recipe exactly.

I am lucky, I have a large water bath canner left over from the days when we had dairy goats and used it to pasteurize the milk.

Once finished, the jellies were a gorgeous shade of pink. I will note however, that even in a dark pantry they lost their pretty color by Christmas time (I had saved some to use as gifts for loved ones), so use them sooner rather than later.

Once I got started and did more research, I found you can make jellies from any number of flowers and trees, who knew? I then made some jelly from our Black Locust trees, which have a pretty white blossom and which make a lightly yellow-tinged jelly. Equally delish, of course.

Later this year I want to branch out into even more floral jellies. I found another blog which listed a whole host of things that can be used to make tasty jellies, the only limit is your energy and time. This has Sixteen Flower Jellies listed. (No, I am not a "prepper" but that's a pretty cool list, so check it out anyway.) But in the meantime, consider making some of these pretty and tasty jellies.
You'll be glad you did!