Wild Violet Jelly: Springtime in a Jar

Ingredients

• Wild Sweet Violet Blossoms – 2 cups loose or 1 cup pressed
• Water – 4 cups
• Lemon Juice – the juice of 1 lemon (strained) or `1/4 cup
• Sugar – 4 cups
• Fruit Pectin – 1 package

Collect enough fragrant sweet violet blossoms with stems removed to make two loose cups or 1 pressed down cup of flowers. This can be a bit tedious but makes a great activity for your young ones to help with. My girls always helped me gather flowers for recipes and they always loved it. 

Directions

The first step to making your violet jelly is to make a tea using your collected blossoms. This will help to impart the deep amethyst color that’s desirable for the end result. 

1. Place your violet blossoms with stems removed in a quart size canning jar and pour the 4 cups of boiling water over them. Don’t worry if your tea is a different color other than purple, that will change later on when the lemon juice is added.  It will be like magic!
2. Cover your jar and let it sit overnight. 
3. Strain the blossoms from the liquid with a fine mesh strainer or a bit of cheesecloth. If using cheesecloth, be sure to squeeze it out to get as much liquid as you can.  We don’t want to waste a drop!
4. Pour your tea into a pan and add the 1/4 cup of strained lemon juice. Notice the color change?  Like magic it should now be a beautiful purple color.
5. Add your package of pectin and bring to a boil then add the sugar and bring to a boil again for a minute or two.
6. Remove from heat and stir for about 5 minutes.
7. Pour into small canning jars (4 oz.) leaving a 1/4 inch of headspace.
8. Wipe edges of jar and attach clean lids and rings. 
9. Process for 10 minutes in a water bath canner to seal.
10. Remove from water bath and let cool for 24 hours.

If you notice that any of your jars didn’t seal properly, that’s okay.  Just refrigerate and use within a few weeks.  The others should last for a year or so in the pantry.