Back to Cooking with Flowers

On my last post about Violet Jelly, fullfreezer suggested lilacs. Well, they're certainly plentiful in New England this time of year, yes? So, last night I gathered some lilacs. Laboriously plucked them off the green parts until I had 2 heaping cups. Steeped them in 2 cups of boiling water and let them rest until this evening. Then I strained them and we had another demonstration of the wonders of chemistry. This one went from pale brown to bright pink when the lemon juice (1/4 cup) was added - everyone oooed and ahhed appropriately and then took off.

4 cups of sugar and a package of pectin later, and I have 4 half-pint jars and 1 half-cup jar of pinky-purple lilac jelly. Which tastes suspiciously like the violet jelly. But it smells like lilacs. And that's really nice.