Friday, March 28, 2008



My father’s parents were products of the fin d’siecle—carrying on the Victorian ideal until their deaths in the late 1960’s. I never knew them to call each other anything other than “Mr. Griffeth” and “Mrs. Griffeth”. I often wondered if they ever slipped up in their private moments to call each other by their given names. Even the yellowed love letters I found from 1900 never had a “James” or a “Rita” in them. My Grandmother Rita was well known for her crabapple jelly and I’m sure floral jellies would not have been out of place on her damask covered dining table.

There is something ever so delicate, ever so Victorian and very Southern about floral jellies. They really speak to a bygone era where leisure time was plentiful and entertainment was more than just a hurried dinner party or a restaurant date. To serve a floral jelly, is to serve your own work of edible art.

And they do need to be consumed quickly. Many fruit jellies will keep over the year, but the essences and delicate colors in floral jellies fade over a period of six months. One technique, I will discuss today really must be refrigerated and served quickly.

Jelly is alchemy in the kitchen in a way. It does take a bit of practice to get it right. The recipe I will give you is easy in that it uses commercial pectin. This is much easier than making jelly the old way. You have to use pectin with floral jellies because the blossoms have no pectin of their own.

Blossom Jelly

4 cups edible blossoms
4 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (1 3/4-ounce) package powered pectin
5 cups sugar

WASH blossoms with cold water, and place them in a large bowl. Pour 4 cups boiling water over blossoms, and refrigerate overnight. Pour blossoms and liquid through a colander into a kettle, discarding blossoms. Add lemon juice and pectin; bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil, and boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim off foam with a spoon. Quickly pour jelly into hot, sterilized jars, filling to 1/4 inch from top. Wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. PROCESS in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Cool on wire racks. YIELD: 6 half pints

Once you get the hang of it, you can make small batches as you need them. I will collect the blooms when they arrive—spring is the time for dandelions and violets—then steep them and freeze jugs of the resulting floral tea. Throughout the spring and summer you will find different flowers that make lovely, sparkling floral jellies.

Embedding Blossoms in Jelly

If you would like to really amaze your guests for a special dinner or event, try embedding a blossom in the bottom of the jelly to make an individual “pat” to place at each guest’s place setting. Choose simple flowers like violets or small roses. Wash them, dry them and press gently down with some cheesecloth. Make your jelly. Using a silicone baking form placed on a cookie sheet, pour a small amount of hot jelly into the bottom. Press your flower, face down, into this and then fill the form up with the jelly. Cover with wax paper. You may make these several days to a week before the event but they must be kept refrigerated. Turn out onto the bread dish for a jeweled mold of jelly with a flower in the top.

3 Comments:

  1. Holder said...
    So this sounds like something I want to try, but what, besides roses and nasturtiums (did I spell that right?) can we make jekky out of?
    Rosie said...
    There are a few lists of edible flowers and how to prepare them. Most of them don't include my favorite, Kudzu blossoms. Generally, if the bloom is edible and has a sweet smell, it is good for jelly making. Obviously, using alliums(garlics and onions)would make odd jelly.

    But flowers have many applications in cooking. If you grow your own garden, you can collect the male squash flowers and immature sunflower heads and tempura them for a beautiful side dish--tasting of squash and artichokes. Browsing these lists might give you some other ideas about how to use flowers in your cooking.

    List of Edible Flowers

    North Carolina State University's List
    Holder said...
    Thanks- I just added another culinary trick to my cooking abilities. Although "ability" might be too strong a word. It's more like a "disability" some days.

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