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If you have viewed the "Garden" section of Pinterest you will have no doubt come across someone touting the great "honey" like taste of dandelion jelly. I, like a few others, actually really like dandelions.
I do not consider them a weed, I think they are a joyful yellow flower that dots the landscape of green lawns and are a sign of spring! So when I heard I could make jelly from dandelion tea I was pumped.
I went out to my apartment complex and found the jackpot of dandelions on the side of an embankment. In 45 minutes I collected a quart of flowers and joyfully skipped back to my apartment like a young schoolgirl (just kidding, but it is something I might do).
With my flowers in hand, I spend about 45 minutes removing the stems. I steeped the yellow petals in water overnight. This doesn't smell too great so I was a little nervous about my jelly the next day.
After work, I came home, bought pectin and was ready to thicken that dandelion tea into dandelion jelly! I am thinking this will make a great, unique, homemade, Christmas gift. I can see already, all those tiny 1/2 cup mason jars filled with yellow sunshine jelly! Besides, all the Pinterest posts rave about how they kids love it, and how they have to find it from family.
As I had arbitrarily collected the flowers, and bought 2 boxes of pectin I thought why not make a big o' batch of it. If I have to fill my water bath canner, I might as well make a big batch. So I am doubling the recipe. In go my 6 cups of dandelion tea,then the two boxes of pectin and lemon juice. I bring to a boil and look back at my recipe,4.5 cups of sugar. Ok, double that, 9 cups of sugar! Holy moley! 9 cups of sugar! Oh, ok. I know there is a lot of sugar in jam....I'll add almost 3 lbs of sugar...
My jelly thickens up nicely and I dare a taste test. I pull out a small amount on a spoon and wait for it too cool. This is the moment! The moment I taste dandelion, sunshine, kinda like honey, jelly. And...it's sugar water. I mean, it kinda tastes like honey because honey kinda tastes like sugar. I do taste the dandelion as it's not exactly like a spoonful of sugar. I see why kids love it! Mom just handed them a tablespoon of dissolved sugar!
I processed for 10 minutes in my water bath canner. If you want to try canning check out my article on how to get started ----- Simple Guide to Water Bath Canning -----
Results: Dandelion Jelly
Well, I will never make this again. I will just go buy honey (or learn to keep bees). And those great plans for dandelion jelly Christmas presents? Family: I'll save you the diabetes and come up with something else.
I have included the recipe so you can critique it and explain how your recipe is better than this one, and how your jelly doesn't taste like sugar-water. I did see one recipe that called for an orange instead of pectin, and I would use this recipe if i was to try it again. Maybe the orange will up the flavor. As for now, what do I do with 5 pints of sugar-water jelly?
I don't claim to have made up this recipe, so check out the original here -----Simply Canning -----
Dandelion Jelly
- 3 Cups dandelion tea
- 4 1/2 Cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 box powdered pectin
Add dandelion tea, lemon juice, 1 box of pectin into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add your sugar and bring back to a boil. Continue boiling 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and fill jars.
Directions
- Add dandelion tea, lemon juice, 1 box of pectin into a large saucepan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add your sugar and bring back to a boil.
- Continue boiling 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and fill jars.
- Leave 1/4 inch headspace and process 1/2 pint and pints for 10 minutes in a water bath canner.
How did your dandelion jelly turn out? Better than mine? What do I do with 5 pints of sugar-water? Really, I want to know. Thanks for reading!
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We make Dandelion jelly every year. My guess is your tea wasn’t strong enough. We PACK a ton of petals into a half gallon mason jar and fill it with boiling water. Then, once cool, we refrigerate it over night. The results are a VERY strong infusion. We then use that to make jelly. I’ve had weak Dandelion jelly and yes, it is barely better than sugar water jelly (their actually is such a thing😝). We also make violet jelly and the key to that is a strong initial infusion too.
Delana,
Maybe that was the case, and a stronger tea could have solved my problem. Maybe if I am really bored, I’ll try again.
~Lauren
LOL yes I had the same conclusion. It is jellified yellow sugar water…and that’s fine. 😀
I think that it may not have been steeped long enough. I boiled my petals in water and let them soak overnight. The tea was an amber green color. Once turned to jelly it came out a lot darker than your batch. It was still very yellow and vibrant but much darker. The yellow you have looks like how mine did before letting it steep in the fridge overnight. It tastes like lemon honey and something reminiscent of chamomile. I would give it another shot. You can add what you have to coffee or tea to sweeten or cook up fruit and add it to make a flavored syrup for pancakes or ice cream topping.
Liz,
Perhaps I should steep it longer, we are coming back into dandelion season again. I like your ideas for how to re-purpose the excess of “bad” jelly.
~Lauren