A few weeks ago, I successfully foraged for a dinner salad in the lawn around my apartment. That experience had me looking for more edible opportunities around the office building where I live (what’s a landless homesteader to do?), and soon I zeroed in on the lilac bushes surrounding the front door.
I’ve long been interested in using flowers, but the equipment and safety measures involved in canning seemed like so much to balance with my other endeavors that it drifted lower on my priority list. Then I learned that I could make smaller batches to keep in the refrigerator without worrying about shelf stability, and I’m excited to try more of it.
This lilac jelly took about an hour and a half from start to finish and required no more equipment than a pan, a sieve, a blender and some glassware. Many other spring blossoms can easily flavor syrups, vinegars, wine, spirits and jellies.
Apple blossoms, peonies, bee balm, roses, elderflowers and dandelions are other flowers ready for your culinary invention in Maine.
I chose lilacs because I had them, and they’re a common sight around entryways in Maine and New England. Where I live in the midcoast, the bushes are just about to drop their flowers, but those of you living farther north might have some time yet.
I collected a glass storage container full of flowers the night before and kept them in the fridge. Older, less flavorful blooms dried up and went brown overnight, making them easy to sort from the fresh ones.
Like tomatoes and other vegetable crops, I found that the ready flowers came right off the branch when I touched them. Harvesting this way also leaves the flowers on the bushes — and lets you enjoy the sight of them — for as long as possible.
The next day, I sorted out a cup and a half of clean, fresh blossoms. I also separated any flowers still connected to their green stems, because those can taste bitter. To do all this, I poured the lilacs onto a dark background (in this case, the tupperware lid), making it easier to separate everything.
With that done, I used this recipe for its small batch size and the promise of stronger flavor from pureeing the blossoms.
First, I brought two cups of water to a boil, put a cup and a half of flowers in and let it sit for 10 minutes. The flowers will turn brown, shrivel and smell slightly less pleasant at this point.
My experiment may have been limited here by my equipment — I don’t have a smoothie-style blender that can hold liquid, just an immersion blender. With only two cups of liquid in a saucepan, the flowers did not blend smoothly.
After spraying myself with near-boiling water a half dozen times, I decided to finish the job by smashing the flowers with a fork instead. Then, I strained them into a glass container and mashed them down again against the sieve.
I returned the liquid to the stove, mixed in one packet of pectin, and brought it to a boil. Add the pectin powder slowly to avoid any clumps. After one minute, swirl in three cups of sugar, taking your time here for the same reason. Let it boil for another minute.
I added three tablespoons of lime juice and poured the mixture into a glass container that had been warmed in the toaster oven at 150 degrees for 20 minutes. Without that preparation, cold glass can shatter when hot liquid is poured into it.
Once the jelly cooled to room temperature, it went into the fridge and my work was soon enjoyed by my family, who ate it with cheese and crackers.
The final product tasted more like lime juice than lilacs to me. When I do this again, I’ll borrow a blender or let the flowers sit in water overnight (if you’re not making jelly on a deadline, this should be an easy adjustment for you).
The taste of three cups of sugar in the jam was also noticeable to me, and next time I might experiment with using honey or fruit juice.
My jelly did set beautifully, which is enough of a victory for a first try. I also came across BDN contributor Sandy Oliver’s suggestions for making jam without commercial pectin, which I’m excited to try out soon.
This experience was just as fulfilling as pulling a salad out of our parking lot lawn. It was easier, faster and more fun than I expected either of these activities would be. Every new thing I try makes me more confident in the skills I have and the ability to figure out self-sufficiency on the fly.
