Making Jam. Or Jelly.
Fireweed Jelly in fact. Lots and lots and lots of it.
There is a good recipe that I always use HERE on my blog.
You just have to remember that Fireweed doesn't have Pectin, like unripened berries do, so it's harder to make it jell. So I just add another box of Sure-Jell and it always works out for the best.
You can substitute any other edible flower to make jam as well. Dandelions, Carnation, Chamomile, Clover, Fuscia, Gardenia... (Ah heck, just click HERE for a list!) Whatever jelly you're making will take on the awesome color of the flower you use. You pretty much boil off the color into the pot! Thanks to the sugar and pectin, it stays that color until the last smear on toast!
The best part of the jelly making sessions is that the kids can do all your picking!
Clara (pictured up there) actually picked a bee in her ziplock bag and didn't know until we were about to dump it into the bucket to wash the flowers! She THREW her bag at me when it started buzzing. My husband told us to put it in the freezer to "make it go to sleep" so we could get the flowers without getting stung.
The Bees name is Jerry and he is now in a jelly jar with holes in it on the counter.
Him and a spider named Tom, that we also found in the ziplocks.
Happy Jam Session!
2 comments:
It is beautiful. I'll add it to my long list of wish-foods to try some day! I would love to make a flower jelly, but it so hard here to find flowers that haven't been sprayed with poison.
This looks sooo good! Now to find a big enough patch of fireweed so we can try it, too. :) Oh, and ya gotta love those bugsy pets.
Post a Comment