Wild Violet Jelly

It’s that time of year! The flowers are blooming, and we’re foraging and harvesting to get some of that fresh early spring goodness in our bodies. And, sick as I am of hearing about a virus, all the more reason to load up on vitamin C rich greens and to be out in the sunshine soaking up that vitamin D.

So we set the littles to the task of helping us harvest dandelion blossoms and wild violets for making some springtime jellies.

Mostly, I’m determined to get the hang of jelly making before all our fruits show up, and should the learning curve prove steep, dandelions and violets are a bit more expendable than berries or stone fruits… I won’t say that to my husband who spent the better part of 2 hours picking the majority of these wild violets though…

It was nice to be able to spend some time outside as a family, united around a common task and goal. Did the kids get distracted? Oh yeah. They were hip-deep in a hole created by a decomped tree stump. But we all had fun and it was a nice change of pace from being stuck indoors through all the cold rainy weather we had gotten over winter.

The color of the liquid was somewhat teal instead of a true purple, so I helped it along with 2 drops of food coloring. And, for the first time, my jelly passed the plate test!

Wild Violet Jelly

I’ll get to the dandelion later this evening.