Dandelion Marmalade

Before the rain hit this week, Little Red and Little Bird and I made it back over to our neighbors' house to pick more dandelions!  The girls were both pretty good at getting those wonderful yellow blooms into our big bowl.

Once we got back from our tiny excursion, I put them to bed and got down to work removing the petals from their heads.  It took most of their nap time, and to try and redeem the time a little, I was listening to  this.  It's a stellar sermon on the second commandment. 

The petals from these dandelions went into the dandelion marmalade that I made on Sunday afternoon.

Dandelion petals in the marmalade

Isn't it just pretty?  It also tastes wonderful - kind of like sunshine and summer mixed with oranges and honey.


I worked from a few different recipes and then a general how-to about marmalade.  It was kind of confusing, and my first go-round (as I mentioned in my last post) was less than jam-like. The second and third attempts, though, I think turned out just they way I wanted! To save you the trouble of figuring out how to do it, I made up a recipe. Hope you can do it at some point - it's been really fun for our kids to see how we can use up these flowers.

Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cup dandelion petals divided into 2 cups and 1/2 cup
3 cups of water
1 orange peeled and diced
500 g granulated sugar
juice of 1 lemon

0. (I forgot this step, until after I finished the other ones and didn't want to renumber...and it's important!) Put a plate in the freezer or fridge to chill.

1. Put water, 2 cups dandelion petals, and orange in a medium sauce pan and bring to boil. Turn to low heat and simmer, covered, for aprox. 1 hour.

2. Strain all of the solids from the liquid, making sure to press all of the juices from the petals and orange.

3. Put the liquid with the sugar and lemon juice into a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Do NOT stir once the sugar has dissolved (it will crystallize your mixture).  Boil until mixture reaches approx. 220 degrees F.

4. Take off of heat and drop a scant spoonful onto your chilled plate. If it is too runny (not a jammy consistency) bring it back to a boil and let it go up 1-2 degrees then test again. If it is the correct consistency move to the next step

5. Stir in the 1/2 cup dandelion petals then pour marmalade into sterilized jars. The petals will float to the top - if you want to disperse them throughout the whole jar, give it a stir when the marmalade is at room temperature (if you are not sealing the jars).

6.  Seal the jars if you are not planning on using it up within 2 months (refrigerated).

Enjoy!

One way that I for sure know that I've been dandelion focused lately is that Buddy asked S when he was going to bed why God made dandelions - Buddy's answer (when S asked it back) was so that we could eat them.  How sweet is that?!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the sweet spread,
J

Soli Deo Gloria