Apple Blossom Jelly Recipe
Using sound judgment to be more self-reliant.
I decided to give apple blossom jelly a try to make use of the local crab apple trees, and ended up with a unique treat.
There are many wild apple trees in our area with small, bitter fruit. Since no one eats the fruit, blossom harvest doesn’t cause a problem with apple harvest.
If you want to try apple blossom jelly, make sure your trees haven’t been sprayed. (Watch out for nearby treated lawns.) You don’t want herbicides or pesticides in your jelly.
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If you want to harvest petals and fruit from the same tree, wait until the blossoms start to drop. Once petals start falling, pollination is wrapping up and the blossoms will be gone in a couple of days anyway. Petals that are already falling off are also much easier to harvest.
Assuming the trees haven’t been sprayed, and you’re sure it’s an apple tree, they’re safe to eat. The trick is that the apples might not taste very good.
The Surprisingly Sweet Secret of Crab Apples explains:
Given the seemingly infinite variety of crab apples growing in yards and parks all over, how do you know which ones to target for harvesting?
Simple: If you’re positive it’s a crab apple tree, pick one and bite into it. If you spit it out right away because it’s acrid and impossibly tannic, skip that tree.
If it’s sour but also has actual apple flavor and a crisp, not over-firm flesh, it’s got potential. Dark red crab apples are pretty but usually more tannic.
I can vouch for the dark red apples looking beautiful but tasting unpleasant. We’ve sampled fruit from many trees in our neighborhood, and the darkest fruit was easily the most bitter. Apple blossom jelly is a much better use of the tree than eating the fruit.
On the flip side, last year we found a wild apple tree that tasted almost identical to the yellow transparent tree my grandmother had years ago. The apples were small, but delicious.
If you find a tree with tasty fruit, try making easy apple jelly.
To make the jelly, you need:
If possible, pick petals in the late morning, after the dew clears. Gather in a large basin, then sort to remove any bugs or debris. Remember, you only want the petals, not the entire apple blossom.
Because the flavor of the flowers is so delicate, I don’t recommend washing the petals.
Pour the hot water over the apple blossom petals and allow to steep, covered, for 20-30 minutes. Strain the tea and measure 4 cups of the liquid into a stockpot.
Add the lemon juice and calcium water to the blossom tea. Bring to a rolling boil and add sugar/pectin mixture.
Return to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and pectin. Cook one minute and then turn off heat.
Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Calcium water is mixed up from a calcium powder packet included in each box of Pomona’s Pectin. It allows jams and jellies to gel with little or no added sugar.
To make calcium water: Combine 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) of calcium powder with 1/2 cup (120 ml) water in a small jar with a lid.
You can make several batches of jam or jelly from each batch of calcium water, so one box of Pomona’s Pectin goes a long way. Store calcium water in the refrigerator and it will last for several month – unless you make a lot of jam and jellies!
Buy Pomona’s Pectin online, or check local stores that carry canning supplies.
This surprised me, because the blossoms are so fragrant, but our apple blossom jelly has a delicate apple flavor.
Use apple blossoms to create a delicate, apple flavored jelly.
This recipe makes a soft-set jelly. If you prefer a firmer jelly, increase pectin and calcium water amounts to 4 teaspoons each.
Keywords: jelly, flower jelly, apple blossoms
If you like apple blossom jelly, you may want to explore more of our recipes. We have dozens of jam and jelly recipes on the site, including several flower jellies, all listed on the Recipes page.
They include:
For more on edible flowers, see the Edible Flowers List with Names and Pictures.
We also have fun flavor combinations like:
Have you made any flower jams or other crab apple recipes? Leave a comment and let me know.
I have made crab apple jelly for years now! Copied off of my grandmother on my Dads side. Luckily, in SE Michigan we have a lot of Dolgo crab apple trees to pick from. Everyone thinks I am a little crazy until they taste how good the jelly is! After boiling the apples I use 1 cup juice to 3/4 cup sugar and 1 gallon of juice to 1 package of pectin. Apples have a lot of pectin in them…for extra long jelling purposes only. That’s about how easy it is to make jelly!!! I was really glad to read your writing about crab apple jelly because hardly no one includes it in their recipes any more, free fruit for the picking, how easy is that!
thanks for the reminder. I added a link in the post to the apple jelly recipe on the website near the section about finding tasty crab apples.
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