Dandelion Jelly Recipe

So, I know this is a baking blog and dandelion jelly is not really a baked good. But if some joker can put bacon on a maple donut, I think I can put jelly on my baking blog. Bacon started it.  And this dandelion jelly recipe is worth breaking all the rules for anyway.

Mom's Dandelion Jelly

Dandelion Jelly is the First Rite of Spring

Dandelion jelly means spring to me. When I was a kid, my mom was (and still is) very into edible plants, foraging and wildflowers. We made elderberry fritters, cattail pancakes and violet jelly. But the dandelion jelly was always the first thing we made in spring, because the dandelions are always first! The jelly is made from the bright yellow petals of the flowers, not the greens. It has a beautiful golden color and a delicate honey-like flavor. I’m not a masterful canner like my mom so I usually just boil up a batch, dump it in the jars and tell anyone I give some to, “You should probably refrigerate this because my canning skills are pretty dodgy.” No deaths have been reported.Dandelion Jelly Recipe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collecting your dandelions is fun!

It’s time-consuming to snip all the petals without getting any of the green bits.  But the rest is easy. And collecting the dandelions is fun, especially if you have little people in your house. My girls love to help fill our bag and my son loves any excuse to take his nerf gun to the park. We collected enough in about 15 minutes. This jelly is the definition of a seasonal treat. 11 months out of the year I would have to force-feed this to my kids.  But the first weeks of spring, they will put this shiznit on everything. I’m thinking I might try it between some cake layers, but really it’s most beautiful in a jeweled jar with those rare, low beams of spring sunshine illuminating it from behind.

Mom's Dandelion Jelly

 

Some tips for perfect dandelion jelly on the first try:

  • Try to gather on a dry day. Muddy flowers mean muddy jelly.  Ew.  And they really shouldn’t be washed as it makes getting the petals off a total pain in the butt.
  • Which leads me to my next tip, which is to gather flowers in an area you feel confident is not loaded with pesticides and dog pee.
  • Make your dandelion tea as soon as you can after picking, while the petals are still a nice bright yellow. A few hours is fine.
  • Don’t be in a hurry when cutting the petals.  It really is a bit tedious, think of it as an opportunity to be zen. Or do it while you watch a baseball game like I did.
  • To trim the petals, grasp the flower by the petal end and snip the stem and base of the flower off. Then separate the green part from the yellow petals.  Here are some pics in case that makes no dang sense.  My daughter Ramona is the hand model.
Mom's Dandelion Jelly
Start like this…
Mom's Dandelion Jelly
….snip off the end.
Mom's Dandelion Jelly
Now pick out these tiny green bits…
Mom's Dandelion Jelly
…and add the yellow fluff to your measuring cup.
  • You need 4 cups of petals but you don’t have to pack them in.  Just toss them in and when you have 4 cups, make your tea.
  • After making your tea and straining, it may look a bit murky.  Maybe a little greenish-brownish and cloudy.  That’s normal.  When you add the lemon juice it will brighten up quite a bit.

Now You’re Cooking!

  • There is liquid pectin and powdered pectin and they behave differently.  This calls for powdered pectin.  Call ahead to make sure your grocery store stocks it.  When I called mine, they had me spell it four times and then asked me if it was a “medical thing”.  But they did carry it, just took some coaxing.
  • I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the pectin in terms of quantity.  I use one package of powdered pectin.  The box is labeled Sure Jell Original, 1.75 oz. and is the powdered pectin most readily available on grocery store shelves.  I measured it out by volume and it’s a scant 1/3 cup.  Please note that not all pectins are the same.  If you are using low sugar pectin or a different brand, I encourage you to do a little googling first to make sure you are using the right amount, as an ounce for ounce substitution might not get you the result you’re expecting.
  • The orange extract is optional.  I’m a tweaker.  Not in a Breaking Bad way, in a creative way.  I just can’t help adding my own touch to a recipe.  In this case, if you want the purest, most delicate flavor, leave out the extract.  If you want a little fruity touch, use it.
  • Ditto on the yellow food coloring.  I’m pretty sure my mom thinks this is cheating, but after all that work getting the petals, I just can’t bear the idea of this jelly not being YELLOW.  Up to you if you want to pollute it with dye or not.  But it’s only one drop so…
  • Use the deepest pot you have because boiling jelly is no joke.  It boils up very high and can be a real menace if it overflows.
Dandelion Jelly
No joke.
  • The recipe calls for 80z. (half pint) jars.  I also put this jelly in smaller 4oz. jars for gifts.  Ball sells a 4oz mini jar with a one-piece lid that I like.  I’ve seen them at Target too.
  • The recipe says to put these in “processed jars”.  This means the jars and lids have been boiled and prepared like you do with legit canning.  There is a pretty good tutorial here if you’d like your jelly to be shelf stable.  I usually make 8 jars and give 7 away, so I’m fine with just refrigerating.

Dandelion Jelly Recipe

More Wild Edible Plants Recipes From Bakers Brigade:

Print Recipe
Dandelion Jelly
This unique jelly has the golden color of spring dandelions and a delicate honey flavor. If you don't need it to be shelf stable, just skip processing the jars. It will keep in the fridge for about a month.
Dandelion Jelly
Prep Time one million years
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings
8 oz. jars
Ingredients
Prep Time one million years
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings
8 oz. jars
Ingredients
Dandelion Jelly
Instructions
  1. Snip off stems and the base of each flower, removing as much green as you can. You need a total of 4 cups of yellow petals. If you have picked in an area free of spraying and animal traffic you can brush each flower off to remove any debris. Once you wash the blossoms they become very difficult to handle so try to avoid doing that.
  2. In a large pot boil the petals in 2 quarts water for 3 minutes. Cool all the way down even if it takes several hours. This give your jelly the deepest possible color. Line a colander with a paper towel or coffee filter and strain the tea.
  3. Measure 3 cups dandelion liquid. Add lemon juice and pectin. Bring mixture to a boil using your deepest pot. Add the sugar all at once and stir constantly, boiling at a high rolling boil for 2 ½ minutes.
  4. Turn off heat and skim off any gunk from surface. Using a wide funnel, pour into your processed jars.
Share this Recipe

45 thoughts on “Dandelion Jelly Recipe

  1. Approximately how much is in your package of powder pectin? I live in South Korea, and my students and I are excited about trying out your jelly! We only have access to powder jelly, so we want to make sure we get this recipe right!

      1. I made 2 mistakes 1. squeezing the dandelion to strain… (now it’s murky yellow) and 2. not letting the powder dissolve completely… it’s not really a solid… yet? Does it solidify later?

        1. Hi Saet 🙂 Did the jelly stay murky even after you added the lemon juice? Mine usually brightens up after I add the acid. Not sure what happened with your pectin, I’ve never noticed it not dissolving. But yes, as the jars cool they will firm up quite a bit. Any change today?

        1. maybe if you measure how much that is, you can say it in tablespoons for those that don’t have the packaged kind.

          1. Hi Cheryl. I did measure it, it’s about a scant 1/3 cup. I made a note in the description and the recipe itself: “I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the pectin in terms of quantity. I use one package of powdered pectin. The box is labeled Sure Jell Original, 1.75 oz. and is the powdered pectin most readily available on grocery store shelves. I measured it out by volume and it’s a scant 1/3 cup. Please note that not all pectins are the same. If you are using low sugar pectin or a different brand, I encourage you to do a little googling first to make sure you are using the right amount, as an ounce for ounce substitution might not get you the result you’re expecting.”

          2. Is it safe to cut back on the amount if sugar added? I know it used as a preservative and helps to thicken but if we went down to 3.5 cups and boiled a bit longer could we get the same effect?

  2. I absolutely love this post…not just because I’m a dandelion fanatic and love jelly, but because of your writing. You are doing a fabulous job. Keep it up!

  3. I’m finding a slight discrepancy between the ingredients and the instructions. I set the amount so that it called for 4 cups petals just like the instructions but the ingredients list one quart of water while the instructions call for two quarts. And when I change the amount so that it called for 2 quarts the amount of petals become 8-10 cups.

    I don’t have a question really, I just thought to point it out because I am thinking it’s a typo

  4. I cut my prep time down to five hundred thousand years by using the following method to get the fluffy white and yellow dandelion insides away from the green:

    1. Pick just the dandelion heads, no stems.
    2. Holding the yellow part facing you, break the head in half so you have two little half-moons of yellow.
    3. Use one hand to hold onto the green base.
    4. Use the other hand to quickly pull away the fluff (or “petals”)
    5. Repeat with the other half.
    6. Repeat with ten million more dandelions. (Actually, I get a lot of fluff and pretty much no green this way, so it really only takes two million dandelions.)

  5. You say to use 2 quarts of water, and you get 6 jars of jelly, but in step 3 you say measure 3 cups of dandelion liquid, and this is what you boil with the lemon juice and pectin. Am I missing something here? Where’s the rest of the liquid?

  6. I have wanted to do this. But, in all the acres I have . . .I cannot find any Dandelions that do not have tiny black ants on them. Any suggestions? Ewww.

  7. I’m just getting started with using flowers for food. I’ve always thought it looked beautiful, but looking was as far as I got. I’m excited to try this and include my 4yo grand girl, London, in the adventures!

  8. At what point in the recipe do you add in the food coloring or extract? Want to make the jelly in it’s full glory as the recipe says… 😀

  9. There was a comment above about using a sugar alternative. We were hoping to use raw cane sugar. Do you think this will affect the jam from thickening?

    1. I think it should be fine Molly! I would recommend grinding it a bit in the food processor. The bigger grains might dissolve more slowly which could make the pectin clumpy. Good luck, let me know how it turns out 🙂

      1. Is it safe to cut back on the amount if sugar added? I know it used as a preservative and helps to thicken but if we went down to 3.5 cups and boiled a bit longer could we get the same effect?

        1. Hi Molly . There are lots of posts online about strategies for reducing sugar in jelly. I have never had any luck with that and have gotten poorly set jelly. When I’m trying to cut back on sugar, I just spread it on my toast a little thinner

  10. Heard of Dandelion jelly and went looking for a receipy. Yours sounds really easy so going to give it a try this weekend.

  11. Hi Jane…
    Came across your website in Pinterest…
    Would appreciate you adding me to your newsletter for future updates…
    Love your baking and yum recipes…
    Thank you in advance…
    Monica Joseph India

  12. I had to wash them so getting off all the green parts nearly impossible, so i hope that don’t hurt it. Can i use the sure gel low sugar box? if so how to adjust amount of liquid and sugar? thanks

    1. Having some of the green bits shouldn’t be a problem! I haven’t made the low sugar version so I’m no expert Have you tried googling? Sorry I can’t be of more help ❤️

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *