Honeysuckle Jelly Recipe

How to make it

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• To make the honeysuckle juice, pick blossoms that are opened, but not old. (I used wild yellow honeysuckle, but I think any honeysuckle will work.) You'll need at least two to three quarts of flowers. Pick through the flowers and rinse in the sink. In a Dutch oven, bring the flowers and enough water to cover the flowers to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate at least overnight. At this point I usually dump the flowers and water into a gallon jar and refrigerate until the weekend. This has a bonus of infusing the flowers longer to create a stronger flavor.
• When ready to make jelly, strain the flowers from the water. I use a permanent screen-type coffee filter and sometimes my jelly comes out a little cloudy. If you want perfectly clear jelly I recommend straining the juice through several layers of cheesecloth, or I've used my cotton flour sack towels for this also.
• Measure the honeysuckle liquid into a large and heavy dutch kettle and add lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a full roiling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Continuing to stir constantly, return to rolling boil and boil 1 minute, timing from the point of the full rolling boil.
• Remove from heat. Skim as needed to remove any foam. Carefully ladle into hot jelly jars or pint jars. Wipe threads and rims carefully then top with prepared lids and rings. Put into boiling water bath canner and process for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow jars to sit in hot water for 10 minutes longer. Remove jars from canner and put on kitchen towels on the counter. Cover with a second towel and let sit at least overnight.
• Note: This recipe can also be used for wisteria or kudzu blossoms which will give you a lovely lavender-colored jelly. Don't allow the water to sit for these jellies as I don't know the edibility of these flowers. I tried it with day-lilies. DON'T do that. Day lilies taste too much like beans and bean jelly isn't very good! :-)