Redbud Jelly
This easy redbud jelly recipe is the perfect way to celebrate spring all year long. All you’ll need is a few cups of redbud flowers, sugar, pectin, and lemon juice to capture the delightful floral flavors of the season.
Servings: 2 8-ounce jars
Equipment
- 1 mesh strainer
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 medium sauce pan
- 2 8-ounce canning jars with bands and lids
- 1 canning pot and jar lifter tongs optional
Ingredients
Redbud Tea
- 2 to 3 cups fresh redbud flowers
- 2 1/4 cups water
Redbud Jelly
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp powdered pectin we used Sure-Jell
- 2 cups organic raw sugar
Instructions
Redbud Tea
- Bring 2 1/4 cups of water to boil.
- Place flowers into a heat-safe bowl or jar. Pour boiling water over flowers, stir, and let sit for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, move bowl to fridge and let set about 20 hours. After 24 hours of steeping, strain the flowers out of the tea using a fine strainer. This should yield about 2 cups of redbud tea since the redbud flowers will absorb a bit of the water.
Redbud Jelly
- Add redbud tea to large pot and bring to a boil.
- Add lemon juice and stir. Add pectin and stir. Boil for one minute.
- Add sugar to the tea mixture. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly, and then remove the pot from heat.
- Working quickly, ladle the jelly into the boiled jars (or pour through a funnel), leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top of each.
- Wipe down the tops of each jar and secure the lids with rings and allow jars to cool.
- Unsealed jars should be put in the fridge and used within 3 weeks.
Canning Instructions (Optional)
- Fill a water canning pot or other large, deep pot with water and bring it to a boil. The pot needs to be deep enough so that the jars are completely submerged. Important: Ensure there's a wire rack in the pot to keep your jars elevated since they'll likely crack if placed directly on the bottom.
- Using jar lifter tongs, place the sealed, filled jars onto the rack at the bottom of the pot so they're completely submerged. Boil for 10 minutes.
- Remove the jars and allow to cool for 12 to 24 hours before moving to storage.
- Sealed jars can be store in the pantry for one year.
Notes
Small Yield. This recipe makes just 2 8-ounce jars of finished jelly. Normally we'd want to make more (especially if we're going to the trouble to preserve it by canning), but we found it's pretty time-consuming to collect 3 cups of redbud flowers. Your mileage (and patience) may vary.
Alternative sweeteners. Using white sugar produces a bright fuchsia jelly that looks gorgeous on the shelves. We used organic raw sugar, but it still came out beautiful. If you're using a sugar-free sweetener, you may have to experiment with a low or no sugar pectin to get the jelly to set.
Canning isn’t necessary. If you don’t have the tools for canning or don’t want to take this step, you can always store the jelly in the fridge. It will last up to three weeks as long as it is kept cold.