Sunday, May 3, 2015

Rite of Spring

It seems that I've settled into a pattern of canning.  Strawberries in June.  Blueberries in July.  Elderberries in August.  Raspberries and peaches in September.  Applesauce in October.  And violets?  Well, violets in the springtime, whenever that may be.

Even though the warmer weather has been a little late this year, the violets have come up in full force in my friend's yard.  Yesterday we were at her house for a party and she'd asked her husband not to mow all the violets, please, knowing I'd like some for jelly.  There were enough to fill about 2 cups.  I steeped them overnight in 2 cups of water and then, as I wanted to make a batch with the powdered pectin and forgot I needed 4 cups of violets, I steeped them again, briefly, with another 2 cups of hot water.  Although the finished product isn't quite the magenta of previous years, it's a pretty lavender color.  It'll do.

Strangely enough, I was able to get almost 8 cups of jelly out of the batch.  Last time, it made only 6.5 cups.

It has been a really long time since I made any jam or jelly, and it felt good to be getting back into the swing of things.

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