My mom made dandelion jelly once when I was a kid. I helped her prep the flowers. It took ages, but the jelly was so good. Thank you for bringing back a beautiful memory of time spent with my wonderful mom. 💖
Separating the petals drives me insane (and I'm really OCD about getting absolutely no green parts in) so I watch these videos to help me stay on track
Here's our recipe from Germany. My family makes this for as long as I can remember. 400 to 500 fully opened Dandelion heads (depending on the size) with as less green as you can manage, but you do not have to seperate all green from the yellow petals. Process as fast as possible, so the flowers don't close up too much. Sometimes there are a lot of very small black bugs in the Dandelions (in German), so if you use those be aware that this will probably not be vegan/vegetarian. Give the heads a short rinse, but only a short one as you do not want to lose all the pollen. Then put the flowers in a big pot and add water untill they are covered, about 1 to 1.5 litre per 400 to 500 flowers. Bring to a boil and then take of the head. Wait till it cooled down to not boiling your hands. Put through a sive and afterwards press sived juice through a very fine cloth, to eliminate all or at least as many impureness as possible, as those will influence how fast the honey/syrup will start saccharification. Put the clear juice into a pot and add around 1 kg of sugar for 1 litre of juice. Experiment a bit to find your preferred volume for looks and taste. (The less sugar per liquid quantity, the more you will need to boil it down, the more concentrated the flavour and the darker the finished product, but probably also easier for saccharification.) Boil it and skim impurenessess that gather at the surface with a laddle. There will probably be lots of bubbles and the smaller they get the better. Boil on low heat, add maybe a tablespoon of cleared lemon juice per 400 to 500 flowers. Stirr regularty while still removing impurenessess untill you have a still liquid but also syrupy consistency on your laddle. You can already taste test it. Fill into sterilized glass jars and turn them on the head for about 5 minutes, then turn them back to regular position. Wait till cooled and your done. Now, because this does not rely on pectin or the likes to solidify/gain consitency, but on pure sugar alone, you can re-process it. If you still have a too watery consistency after a day of waiting, you can again boil the liquid and if it is too thick, you can mix it with hot water. But that can lead to higher chances of saccharification, which can already be rather high for this product. However, you can also either use the crystalized sugar as candid sugar or liquify the whole product again and try to get it to not saccharify. This method may be a bit more work intensive, but it will give you a honey/syrup instead of a jelly. I habe tried the jelly version myself, but I find the syrup much more enjoyable.
This is very similar to the recipe that I've used for years, both in UK and in France but I have always known it as Dandelion Honey. It makes delicious jelly/syrup/honey. The difference is that I don't rinse the flowers as this will wash out the pollen. I dry them so that bugs have a chance to crawl out. Drying also makes removing the green easier
My great grandmother used to do it like this when I was a little kid, I always gathered all the dandelion for her. Great memories. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Like my nan would always say during fruit canning season/s…. *”Don’t stress about being precise! If you f••k it up, just tell everyone it’s fruit syrup!”* -🤣❤️
Dandelions do contain oxalates, as do many other foods. Eaten in moderation (as with most foods), and not eating the stems, should be fine for most people.
You can make coffee, tea, food and now honey from this one plant? And it spreads by itself? Seriously why do we not just let them grow instead of grass.
dandelion is from the french name: dent de lion, or lion's tooth. dandelion is completely edible from seed, flower, leaf, stem, to root. And really, quite nutritious.
I wonder if that is in reference to the jagged edge of the leaves and the way the back teeth of a lion and other cats look what would be molars and bicuspids in humans. Jagged for tearing meat.
Here in Finland we have a "poor man's honey" called kuusenkerkkäsiirappi (sprucebudsyrup) and it's made from the fresh new very light green leaves of spruce trees that are usually at the very end of the branches! :D The recipe is basically you take around 5 dl of spruce tips(buds) put it a pot, cover it with cold water (just so it covers them!) and let this sit out overnight covered! The next day you cook this spruce juice with the leaves in it for about 1-2 hours! After that let it cool a bit and strain the juice into another pot! Then you take said juice and put around 100 g sugar in it, (only if you have about 1-2dl of water, if less use less sugar, if more use a bit more!) bring this to a light boil and cook the syrup, occasionally stirring it, for an hour or so, check on the syrup every time you stir it, if it has thickened up a bit (similar to honey consistency), then it should be done! You can can this or put it in the fridge in a bottle and use it on ice cream or in tea or as a substitute for honey! :)
Also, the white goo on the inside of the dandelion stem can be used as a light glue. It can be used for things that do not require a strong type of glue. They use this back in the olden days.
The suspense when Emmy trying something for the first time and she's finishing her mouthful of chewing always gets me. Nothing gets me as hype for what shes going to say about it.
Wow that just woke up a childhood memory in my head! I had the tiniest little memory which sometimes popped up in my head about doing something with dandelions in 2nd grade in school. It was a very specific memory in my classroom but I could never quite grasp it. I'm 25 now and this video just brought it back. THIS is what we made back then!!
9:47 Fun fact when Emmy said that her Dandelion Jelly tasted like Chamomile, Dandelion and Chamomile belong to the same genus of flower species, having a star shaped flower, however they are distant cousins because of a slight variation of the genus having been branched.
For anyone interested, the family is called Asteraceae, the name coming from the Latin word for star, aster! There a bunch of flowers in this family, including dandelions, sunflowers, daisies, chrysanthemums - and my all time favorite flower - gaillardia just to name a few! The Asteraceae family is one of the largest families of flowers, and they are special because they have two sets of petals: rays and discs. They're such a beautiful family of flowers, with a wide array of medicinal uses. Asters are our friends!
I wonder if you mixed a few of the milder tasting flowers if it'd be closer to tasting like actual honey. I guess it'd be like simulating the wide variety of flowers they'd make their honey from.
@Grust OMG yes I forgot how awesome it is when you put jelly in the freezer. I once made hibiscus tea, strained out the calyxes/fruit/flowers and made cake with it, added pectin to the tea to make elly and then when I got bored of the jelly put it in the freezer. The texture is so fun.
@@jamgin9890 so what part of regular honey is made of animal?!! You and the rest of the world are pissing me off with this vegan Trend like the organic trend!!! From what I know corn tomatoes and other veggies come from the earth what’s more natural then that but now we have regular tomatoes and then organic, regular corn and organic, wtf and regular honey is vegan this is synthetic you idiot synthetic honey not vegan
@@jamgin9890 “vegans don’t eat animals, bees are animals” you sound stupid like the other people who want “almond milk, vegan honey, vegan meat, beyond sausage, beyond meat” stop tryi to make meat and just eat plant based shit!!! Trying so hard to be accepted that y’all make yourselves look like lunitics.... y’all don’t want beef, burger sausage but y’all want to make fake sausage, beef, and bacon flavored plant products it’s stupid!!!!
"Botulism: It can cause paralysis and it can kill you- IT'S AWESOME because botox relaxes your wrinkles by paralysing your face. ISN'T THAT AMAZING? Botulism in your face equals botox... amazing right? My toaster agrees!" - Emmy, 2020 I'm gonna embroider this sentence and hang it on my wall.
That must be why when those that are "botoxed" their mouth doesn't move & when they smile looks fake/paralysed and if in cheeks when they smile looks like golfballs under skin....
For those who love this recipe, try the same thing again but this time add some pesticide-free rose petals (or rose water, that's fine too) and a few strands of saffron. It literally tastes like a flower garden in the sun smells, it's amazing.
@@Volair Yeah I look at the jelly as a seasonal treat but if the world continues going to shit, I DO know how to forage and could probably make some foods that would last a few months.It is funny how the two options with botulism and canned zombie apocalypse rations are 'this will extend your life' and 'this will kill you immediately'.
Add some orange zest to the dandelion peddles when you see seep them, or a couple of drops of orange oil when you add the pectin, and the flavor really pops.
@Sentinel Yes good point, even though it's not quite as much as Vit. A and Vit. K. I like how they have some Copper in them, too, in order to help the Iron absorb nicely.
@@Send87 Personally, I don't boil them (they get more bitter at higher temperatures.) I just make Tea with Dandelion at 175 F. The Vitamin A content seems to survive pretty well at that temperature. I can tell because my eyes sometimes get bloodshot, and they recover quickly if I have Dandelion Tea with a little Milk in it.
Anyone remember singing this song as a kid whilst popping the heads of dandelions ; "momma had a baby and its head popped off" ? .....we did some demented games n things when i was little apparently 😂
@Izabella Gueick - My brothers would do that, only instead of saying "Mama" they'd insert the name of one of our female cousins. Usually doing so right in front of said cousin,
Oh, yeah. I thought it was a Thing, and did it once in front of young mom (I was in college, and babysat for them). She was aghast, and probably wondering what sort of sick person she’d been leaving her children with. I haven’t done it since, tho I might adopt the “Ms. Polly” version.
I'm European and ever since I was little, i remember my grandparents making this. Their recipe is a bit different and the honey has a darker color, but omg I love eating it, especially on crepes or pancakes!
@@melsterifficmama1808 not exactly, but as far as I know it involves cooking the flowers in sugar water and then slowly simmering it for hours...I think citric acid is added too...I can ask for the actualy recipe if anyone's interested in making it!
@@oabuseer I don't know the exact recipe myself although I can find it, but I think the main difference is that the flowers themselves are cooked directly in the sugar water slowly for hors and then everything gets drained so that the flowers stay behind and the sugary syrup is what's left...It's much darker and a bit thicker than what Emmy made 😊😊
currently making this but halved the recipe, using 2 cups of dandelions. I found it was easier to just pick the flowers rather than cut because I found it harder to control the amount of green sneaking in. more to follow! edit: I don't own a sieve, so I used a larger mason jar and a coffee filter with the ring around to create one. Might have just inspired a new way to brew coffee. 2 tbsp of certo + 1/2 tsp is roughly half a box of 57g powdered Certo, available here in Canada. I tasted the ladle after pouring it into 2 jars, and it was delightful. One sealed before reboiling. I will get to taste it tomorrow!! :D
My grandmother told me many stories about her and her mothers use of so many unexpected edibles; cattails, rosehips and dandelions. She even made us grandkids dandelion salad with new growth leaves. The ingenuity and resourcefulness of the poor during the great depression constantly amazes me.
When everything gets more abundant again try making candied lemon peels. After making it, you are left with a lemon infused honey-like syrup and candied lemon peels of course!
That syrup is great to use when making a lemonade too! I always make candied peels and lemonade together. It’s an efficient, non-wasteful, and delicious use of lemons
@@emiv592 Ingredients 3 to 4 organic lemons, washed 2 cups sugar plus 1/2 cup Instructions Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemon in vertical strips, trying to leave as much of the bitter white pith behind. In a small saucepan, combine the peels with 2 cups of cold water and bring to a boil. Immediately drain, refill the pan with water, bring to a boil and drain again. Repeat this process three times to remove the bitterness from the peel. After the third dunking remove the peels from the pan and set aside. Measure 2 cups of the sugar into a saucepan, and add one cup of water. Set over medium-high heat, bring to a boil and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Drop in the peels, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until the peels are tender and translucent. Drain and cool the peels. Keep the syrup for other uses. Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl and add the peels. Toss with your fingers until the peels are thoroughly coated. Remove one peel at a time shaking off the excess sugar. Store in an airtight container. Keeps for several weeks in an airtight container
BTW: For those that think the whole canning process is too much work you can also make this a freezer jelly. Simply add the cooked jelly to the jars, let the jars cool down, and store them in the freezer. Take one out to thaw in the fridge before use.
Seeing people with freezer jelly always cheesed me off. It's always in the way, and then you have to remember a day ahead of time to get some down. Plus it doesn't last as long IMO because freezers tend to impart weird flavors after awhile. Saying canned jelly lasts a few months is an understatement, more like a year+
@@skeetsmcgrew3282 A freezer jelly will last the same amount of time in the fridge that a regular canned jelly does so it's not like you have to think a day ahead to take one out of the freezer to use it. You can take one out of the freezer whenever the amount of jelly in your fridge is getting low. Plus due to the high sugar content it doesn't freeze totally solid and can be used not long afterwards. As far as jelly being in the way in a freezer, there's a simple way to avoid that: Organize your freezer better. And I have not had an issue with weird flavors in any freezer jelly I have ever made. Just grabbed a violet jelly out of my freezer yesterday that I made last year and it still tastes just the same as the day I put it in.
@@tfo1013 Idk how big your freezer is but I can barely get everything in mine as it is, let alone with 20 jars of jelly in there. I'm tired of people and their freezer privilege, most Americans don't have that kind of freezer opportunity and it's offensive that you assume I can just "Organize my freezer better." #equalopportunity #afirimitveaction #assumemygender
Dandelion, rose and lavender are my absolute favorite flowers and (in my opinion) the most useful/versatile! (Yes I count dandelion as a flower instead of a weed…. It’s too amazing to be a weed! 😁💖)
I made this yesterday and I LOVE it! I used smaller jelly jars so I can share them. I kind of expected it to be a little grassy tasting, but to me it tastes exactly like honey! It's very good. Thank you Emmy, for sharing the recipe!
On the road I grew up on there was one hay field that was always left completely untouched through spring. They let the dandelions grow for the bees and it's so beautiful to see an entire golden field 😊
we used to jar veggies and make jelly and jam every year when I was a kid. My favorite memories are hearing the popping in the middle of the night from the jars. I would sleep in the living room so I could hear it.
I tried a recipe for dandelion honey today! It's quite similar to yours but doesn't include pectin. It uses a bit more sugar which turns the liquid into a thick syrup - very very similar to the consistency of honey. And surprisingly: it also kinda tastes like honey! I'm so happy with the results and encourage everyone to try it 🐝
Thank you for the cheer up. I really needed it. We had to put down our very senior cat today. He was my baby, had him since he was a 4 week old rescue. Best cat ever. I miss him so much 😭
I'm so sorry. I went through the same thing a couple months ago. Mine was 15 and we had him since he was 3 months. I miss my boy too. I wish you peace right now.
My heart goes out to you with so much love and empathy. I just lost my 16 year old girl kitty to possible cancer that made her stage 3 kidney disease worse. It was 2 days ago and she took a bit over 12 hours to pass away in my arms naturally. She was my daughter essentially. Animals can be so much more than just "pets", they are our family. I feel like a part of my soul left when she did. I feel for you and hope that time helps heal some of the pain.
@@viennajordan9279 when cooked they taste like slightly bitter rocket (arugula) there best paired with a sweetish or sweet sauce unless you like the taste of them cooked to start with
Thanks for the fun idea. Sold my brother on making the roasted roots for 'coffee' and I didn't roast my foraged roots dark so I can use in Vermouth and D&B root beer. Anyhow, one thing I'll add from jelly making: if you don't want to monitor the syrup temperature with precision, I just do what my mom did: put a porcelain saucer to be chilled in freezer and dab some of the jelly after boiling atop the saucer to see how it sets. Your jelly looks to me like you could have cooked it a bit longer to get a bit more set had you wanted it-though obviously not exactly the same texture nor viscosity as honey.
When I was little (almost 25 years ago), my grandmother and my aunt, used to do vegan honey out of dandelions. It tasted just like honey and the texture, viscosity, stickiness, etc. were on point. They didn't have access to any fancy equipment or ingredients, but even so, They managed to get to an amazing result. Too bad that I don't have the recipe...
So true! Oh and im absolutely sure im smitten with her sweet character & lovely personality..on top the fact shes so considerate & passionate about her subjects!! (@@)
Don't need the wax if there's no air in the jar and you use the pop lids. The pop lids have a safer seal. My mom started canning with wax and then switched to pop lids.
I've done the old school wax/parrafin method. I've had both success and failure with it. Advantage is often a fresher or brighter flavor due to less cooking time. Disadvantage is higher propensity to failure or air leakage. Flats and rings do work better and are safer. Wax seal should NEVER EVER be considered for low acid, unsweetened with sugar foods. Consult a reliable resource such a a current Ball Blue Book or your local county or state food extension service here in the US. Outside the states, not sure.
Another wildflower that's really interesting is Chicory, apparently it's roots used to be used in the south as a coffee substitute during the civil war... I'm sure there's other uses for it too
emmymadeinjapan oh yes, now I remember lol I was just rewatching all of your 7-11 food hauls. I wish we had convinis in the states but 😭😭😭 I guess we’re stuck with hot dogs and pizza 😒
Love the lights & touch of greenery in the room, gives it some life/colour :) Just wondering, if the walls in the background are done? Love the new setup!
She's got a ring on her finger. There is one lucky dude out there... I'm trying to do canning but I might be overthinking it. You make it look so simple. Thank you :)
Omgosh I'm totally going to make this jelly!! Dandelion, I understand, is part of the sunflower family. I feel inspired!! Or maybe I'm thinking daisies. :/
This popped up on my suggestions again. Wanted to pop in and say thanks! After I watched it the first time last year, I made it, and it became a household staple. Wish I could share pictures here, but my kids love this stuff! I gave this out as gifts. It's a great conversation starter. After this, I moved on to violet jelly which I highly recommend. Adding the acid to violet tea is entertaining. I always let my kids know when it's time and they enjoy watching it change hue. So, thank you!
Last summer I made jelly from peony petals using a similar method, which really did taste like honey, and from that point on I got obsessed with making preserves from my mama's flowers. I want to try this recipe as well. Much love to you, Emmy.💕🌸
was i the only one who was extremely bothered by 'i vacuum sealed these jars so i can keep them in my basement for months. this one i didn't vacuum seal but it'll last for a few weeks in the fridge' *savagely opens the vacuum sealed one instead of the one that's ALREADY OPEN
She didn't open the actual seal part. The silver screw ring is separate. The seal is on the flat lid; due to the boiling and heat of her big cooking/water bath canning pot an airtight vacuum seal formed between jar and flat lid. I've done canning for 40 years and what she did was ok.
Oh my gosh, this looks amazing! I have dandelions growing in various places but now I'm thinking of really propagating them to make this. Also, thank you for showing that this can be water bathed and canned for shelf storage.
My grandmother use to make all sorts of odd jellies. Corncob was my very favorite! However she also made rose petal, queen's lace and many others from the foraging in the woods.
"That's what they used to do in the pioneer days." I don't think you need to go back that far, lol. People still can regularly to this day. In fact canning has seen a major resurgence in the last decade or so. Which is great!
You have to make violet jelly! The colour of the steeped flowers is a beautiful blue green turquoise colour. And when you add the lemon juice it immediately reacts and turns a bright purple. It's delicious also!