At last! A new/old recipe for an invasive wildflower! August is a great time to harvest some flowers to make this fragrant jelly. Get your flowers now before they've all gone to seed.
7 cups water
30 large Queen Anne’s Lace flower heads
3 tablespoons lemon juice (or juice of one lemon)
2 packages powdered pectin
7 cups sugar
- Gather and wash your flowers.
- Bring water to a boil then remove from heat and add flowers. Cover and let steep about 10 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through two layers of cheesecloth and measure your resulting tea.
- Return six cups of tea to the pot, stir in pectin and bring back to a hard boil, stirring often.
- Add lemon juice and pour in the sugar all at once. Stir vigorously to mix ingredients thoroughly.
- When mixture returns to a rolling boil, set a timer for 1 minute.
- After 1 minute, check to see that it has gelled.
- If so, remove from heat and skim.
- Pour into sterilized jars and process in a water bath for 5-8 minutes depending on the size of the jar.
Makes about ten 8 ounce jelly jars.
Photo by S. Kelly Kearns