Lilac Jelly

   I was out for a walk with the dogs earlier this week and the sights of all the blooming flowers and trees had my senses heightened.  Then I saw a beautiful dark purple lilac bushes in my neighbors back yard and remembered, when I was little we'd pick the flowers off and suck on the ends to get the nectar - so lightly sweet with that lilac smell.  I came home and thought "I wonder if I can make that into a jelly?"  The answer is - yes!  At that point I sent out feelers amoung my neighbors to see who had lilacs that would share and my neighbor John was kind enough to let me pilfer his large lilac that was in full, beautiful bloom!!  I came home and immediately got to plucking off the flowers - knowing this wasn't a recipe that could 'wait'...You need to gather your lilacs and prepare to sit and pluck for a good 90 minutes! You want only the flower - not the brown stems nor the green mini flower stems (those act like bottle stoppers and hold in the nectar)  Make sure to pack down the flowers in your measuring cup as you go!!  I also saved a few flowers to place in each jar when making the jelly (which I won't do next time as those flowers turned an ugly brown color in the jars after processing) The two cups of packed flowers will be about 4 cups loose in a quart canning jar...I didn't weigh the amount of lilacs I trimmed off the lilac bush but, I packed a small shopping bag full and used it all!!  I am totally impressed that my 'liquid' stayed lilac in color!!!! A lot of folks have their flowers turn amber or yellow upon adding the boiling water - it may be that they waited too long to steep their flowers, or had a different variety/color of lilac flower, or didn't remove all the brown and green stems...I did everything pretty swiftly from the gathering to the plucking and boiling...which I think yields the best results. ~Enjoy! Diane

  Lilac Jelly

2 cups of packed lilac flowers
2 1/2 cups of boiling water

 Place the flowers into a quart canning jar, pour the boiling water over the flowers, make sure the flowers are submerged in the water, place lid on and shake a few times then let the jar sit out at room temperature overnight (about 10 hours)
  Grab a jelly bag and empty out the flowers and liquid into that to strain into a non-reactive bowl below (don't squeeze the jelly bag or your liquid will darken with some brown/green tinges.) 

2 cups lilac water
1 box of sure-gel powdered low sugar pectin (pink box)
1/4 cup freshly squeeze lemon juice
4 cups of sugar

  Stir together the lilac water, lemon juice and sure-gel and bring to a boil. Add in the sugar and bring back to a roiling boil, stirring constantly. Once you reach a rolling boil, boil hard for 1 minute then remove from the heat. scrape off any foam that settles on top and then pour into sterilized containers. process in a water bath for 10 minutes or according to your altitude.

Note: depending on the color of your lilacs - your end resulting jelly 'color' can be yellow, amber or lilac.  My lilacs were vivid purple and dark purple - resulting jelly was a beautiful lilac purple/pink!! and yes, it tastes great!!  A very light floral honey flavor (the same flavor you get from the nectar in the flower) 

Yield: Recipe makes approx 40 oz. total

Recipe adapted from: Forager
Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home