Queen Anne's Lace Apple Jelly
Queen Anne's Lace or wild carrot is one of my favourite flowers. There are a few theories kicking around as to which Queen Anne the flower is named for, but it makes the most sense to me follow the thread back to St. Anne, Mary's mother and grandmother to Jesus. She is the patron saint of lace makers, after all.
The blossoms are delicate and fragrant and delicious. Oh yes, from root to seed, Queen Anne's Lace is a tasty plant. I rarely bother with the root, other than to toss them along with bundles of the flower stalks into soup stock to impart a wonderful carroty flavour. The aromatic seeds are collected in the fall and they're lovely in everything from savoury dishes to cocktails. A word of warning, about the seeds: They've been used as an anti-fertility agent for centuries. Herbalist Susun Weed outlines how a heaping tablespoon, eaten once a day, can help prevent implantation of fertilized eggs. So, if you're trying to get pregnant, perhaps avoid scarfing back handfuls of QAL seeds. However, you're perfectly fine to eat this gorgeous, pink jelly made from the blossoms.
Collect your blossoms closer to noon—once the morning dew's had a chance to evaporate and the warmth from the sun is bringing all the volatile oils to the surface of the plant. You'll want approximately 20 umbels for this recipe. Queen Anne's Lace is considered a weed and invasive one at that. The trick is to gather your blossoms from a clean area. Like many weeds, QAL likes the scrubbier areas of land. And here's another pro-tip: Don't accidentally pick poison hemlock. Because, you'll die. For real. But there's really no need to panic. Once you know the difference between the two plants, they're very easy to tell apart. One smells like carrots and has a hairy stem. The other has a hairless stalk with purple blotches and smells terrible. Raven's Roots does a good job of breaking it all down here.
Right. So, you've got your totally non-deadly Queen Anne's Lace blossoms. Let's make jelly. This recipe doesn't require pectin, as we're relying on the apples for all that. If you want to get straight to the QAL flavour and bypass the appleness of it all, you can make a tisane with the blossoms and then follow a standard herb jelly recipe with pectin.
ingredients/tools
- 20 Queen Anne's Lace umbels
- 3-4 pounds apples
- 4-5 cups water
- Juice of one lemon
- 3 cups sugar or 3/4 cup of sugar to every cup of juice
- jelly pot or deep heavy-bottomed pot
- muslin or jelly bag
- jelly jars
- canning pot or deep pot for hot water bath
method
Allow your blossoms to sit outside a bit to allow any little critters to make their escape. Don't wash your blossoms. There's no need and you'll only damage the lacy flower.
Keeping the skin on, wash and chop apples into small pieces and place in a large pot. Be sure to toss the cores in as they're lousy with pectin.
Add the water to the pot and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes or until apples are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool down a bit.
Place your blossoms into a bowl large enough to hold the at least 5 cups of liquid. Pour the apple mush into a jelly bag or muslin-lined colander over the bowl of blossoms to separate juice from mush. Don't squeeze the jelly bag or force the juice through the muslin, lest you'll wind up with (gasp) cloudy jelly.
Allow the juice to completely drain over the blossoms and let it all steep together for at least a couple of hours or overnight.
Strain the umbels from the apple juice. If blossoms have broken loose, you can strain the infused juice through cloth again.
Measure and pour the juice into a jam/jelly pot or other deep heavy bottomed pot and bring to a simmer.
Add 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup of juice, plus the lemon juice and return to a simmer.
Cook until you reach the gelling point, removing foam with a spoon. I use the sheet test method, but you can also use a candy thermometer and boil until you reach 220°F. The Food Fanatic goes over gel point quite nicely here. If you're a novice jelly maker, I recommend giving it a quick read.
Once your jelly has reached the setting point, ladle the piping hot liquid into warmed and sterilized jam jars. I fill my jars with just boiled water while the jelly is boiling and dump them out once I'm ready to fill them.
Fill the jars using a sterilized ladle and be sure to leave 1 inch head space up top. Seal and process in a 10-minute water bath.
Set your sealed jars away out of cool drafts and allow to sit undisturbed for at least a few hours. Your jelly is now shelf stable and probably really gorgeous.