Are ya in a good comfy seat? Because this topic is one that I usually have to talk through! Who in their right mind would turn a tree flower into Jelly? That would be me! Once I discovered it though I just had to starte expanding my horizons into what other plants I could turn into jelly. So far I’ve done Redbud (Yep you heard right Redbud Tree), Dandelion and Wild Violet. Let me give you a little idea of what each one tastes like before you decide that it isn’t 100% for you! Redbud Jelly: This is one that is so easy to gather the flowers. You want to get the flowers about mid way between blooming and falling off. They are usually only good for a couple weeks. If you get them early they are not fully flavored, but if you get them near the end they are sorta bitter. So we just take grocery bags and put them on the end of the branches and use our hands to scrape the limb down toward the bag, filling the bags full. Of course you can do as little or as much until you decide for yourself if it is good or not. But in our case we make about 4 gallons of tea a year from the blooms of the redbud… Now to reveal its taste. Tart Cotton Candy. If done right the jar is so full of flavor. And yes you heard, well read correctly…. Tart Cotton Candy! It is so good and the kids like it too…. Dandelion: Shew this one is a little more tough to get… Crawling around in the yard to gather the dandelions is a chore. But totally worth it. But don’t use all of your dandelions in jelly… deep fry some. They are great and great for you! I will get into that in the herbal section later… The dandelion jelly requires only the yellow part of the flower. That also makes it a little more time consuming to make. You need to remove the green so the jelly isn’t bitter.. (But leave them on when you are deep frying them)?!?!? The dandelion jelly tastes like HONEY and I’ve even heard it called Poor Mans Honey. So the next time you see your yard full of dandelions pick ya a quart mason full, get rid of the green off of it and make ya some jelly. Wild Violet: This one is interesting also the most challenging to do. Wild Violets are hard to find but if you grow your own you can do it easier but they wont be wild. Johnny JumpUps or any pansy will work and are edible. The wild Violet is the most fun to make though. Once you make the tea out of them they turn a terrible looking grey color, but once you add the lemon juice it turns a hot pink and then when you add the pectin, a lovely dark pink/purple color. It’s AMAZING to watch! The wild Violet is one of my favorites and has a more flower taste than the others, but it’s one that you won’t turn away if you are like me. I don’t have a description for the flavor of it except really dang good. Now I may have convinced you to try the jelly or I may have made you look at me like I have 3 heads! But that’s ok. Hopefully you will try it and love it as much as we do. Pick up the full recipe and go to the yard and find ya some dandelions, wild violets and some red bud trees in the spring. The recipe is in my book My Kitchen My Rules, and you can find it at www.madewithtonsoflove.com or send me a message and I will get you a copy! Come back soon and grab ya a chair. Always remember Smile, God loves and so do we! Have a great day y’all!