Dandelion jelly is a spring treat in a jar, filled with sunshine! This dandelion jelly recipe is low-sugar and made with honey. If you’re looking for a dandelion recipe to keep some sunshine in your life year-round, this dandelion jelly is it!
This homemade dandelion jelly is a wonderful way to capture the spring sunshine and enjoy it all year round. It is made with dandelion petals, which have a sweet honey-like flavor.
Dandelions are very simple to identify and forage, so collecting them is easy. Just make sure it is from a patch that is not sprayed with chemicals and is free of pet waste.
If you are worried about saving dandelions for the bees, rest assured that they are not a preferred food source for honey bees and that any dandelion that you pluck rather than pull from the root will grow back quickly and readily – sometimes double!
Dandelion Benefits
Dandelions are edible and also have many health benefits. This dandelion jelly recipe seems to be infused with sunshine, but it also has tons of vitamins and minerals that the dandelions provide.
Dandelion jelly benefits reflect the same medicinal benefits of dandelions or dandelion tea. They are all known to detoxify the liver, aid in digestion, and are high in potassium and vitamins A, C, K, and E.
On their own, dandelions are a good source of calcium, folate, and iron. So while this dandelion jelly is surely infused with sunshine and spring magic, it’s absolutely infused with tons of medicinal and general health benefits too!
Dandelion Jelly Recipe
While the leaves, roots, and flowers of dandelions are all edible, for this low-sugar jelly we will use just the petals. It can feel like a tedious process to separate the petals from the greens, but it is worth it for the spring color and super delicious taste without the bitter flavor of the greens.
Dandelion petals have a sweet and delicate flavor that pairs perfectly with honey, which is what I prefer to use as a sweetener for this recipe. The honey also gives dandelion jelly a darker yellow color.
This is a low-sugar recipe using Pomona’s Pectin, which comes with pectin powder and calcium powder. It has much less sugar than traditional jelly recipes, but still has a lovely fresh sweet taste from the petals.
Ingredients
Dandelion petals: This dandelion jelly recipe calls for only the yellow dandelion petals. While the process of collecting them might seem a bit time-consuming, they can be frozen for later use if not all are collected at once. You will need a pint jar (two cups) full of packed dandelion petals.
Lemon juice: Use the bottled variety rather than fresh. It is necessary for an exact acidity level for canning.
Calcium water: Made from the powder included in the box of Pomona’s Pectin.
Honey or Sugar: I prefer honey since it goes so well with the flavor of dandelion flowers. To make this dandelion jelly vegan, use sugar.
Pomona’s Pectin: A great pectin to choose for low sugar canning.
How to Make Dandelion Jelly
First, make dandelion tea. Place the dandelion petals in a quart jar, and pour boiling water over the petals. Let it steep for at least an hour and up to 24 hours before continuing with the recipe.
Prepare for Canning
As the dandelion tea steeps, prepare the calcium water by combining 1/2 teaspoon calcium powder with 1/2 cup water in a small jar and shake well. Any unused calcium water can be stored in the fridge for future use.
To prepare the jars, wash the jars, lids, and bands. Then, place the jars in a large pot with enough water to cover them, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat off and keep the jars in the hot water until ready to use.
Cover the lids and bands with water set to a low boil in a smaller saucepan. Once boiling, turn the heat off and keep them in the hot water until ready to use.
Strain Tea and Cook Jelly
Use a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to strain the dandelion petals out of the tea. Be sure to squeeze the petals to extract as much of the tea as possible.
Pour 4 cups of the tea into a medium saucepan. Add the calcium water and lemon juice, and mix well.
In a small bowl, stir the honey or sugar and pectin together to combine them thoroughly and set aside.
Heat a saucepan with the tea mixture until it comes to a full boil. Add in the pectin-honey mixture and stir vigorously until the jelly comes back up to a boil.
Once the jelly comes back to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
Process Dandelion Jelly for Canning
Carefully pull the hot jars from the water, and fill them with the jelly mixture. Be sure to leave about 1/4-inch of head space at the top of each jar. Wipe the rims clean and pop bubbles as necessary.
For canning, place the filled jars in boiling water that completely covers the jars. Cover the pot and process for 10 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1,000 feet above sea level).
Remove from the water bath with a jar lifter. Let the jars cool, then check to be sure they are all sealed.
What to Eat With Dandelion Jelly
Spread this sunshine-infused dandelion jelly on toast, or stir a spoonful into plain yogurt. Try it on a peanut butter sandwich for a PB&J that tastes like a PB&H! Really, use this anywhere you would regular jelly!
If made with sugar, dandelion jelly can be a plant-based replacement for honey for a vegan diet or any other reason one might be honey-averse.
Whatever you eat with dandelion jelly, it’s sure to put a pep in your step and give a sunshiny feeling from the inside out!
Other Dandelion Uses
- Dandelion Mead Recipe
- Infused Dandelion Vinegar
- Dandelion Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
- How to Make Dandelion Salve
- Dandelion Pesto
- Whole Plant Dandelion Soap
- Dandelion Lotion Bars
- Dandelion Kombucha
- Dandelion Salad
- Dandelion Fritters
- Dandelion Syrup
More Low Sugar Jam & Jelly Recipes
- No Sugar Apple Jelly
- No Sugar Peach Jam
- Low Sugar Raspberry Jam
- Low Sugar Wild Violet Jelly
- Low Sugar Strawberry Jam
- No Sugar Blueberry Jam
- Low Sugar Blackberry Jam
- Low Sugar Lilac Jelly
Dandelion Jelly
Equipment
Ingredients
Dandelion Tea
- 2 cups dandelion petals packed
- 4 cups boiling water
Dandelion Jelly
- 4 tsp calcium water see instructions below for more info
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 cup light honey or sugar
- 4 tsp Pomona's Pectin
Instructions
Dandelion Tea
- Pick the dandelion petals to remove them from the greens. Fill about 2 cups full of packed petals or 4 cups of loose packed petals.
- Place the dandelion petals into a heat-safe quart jar.
- Once you have filled a quart jar with loosely packed fresh dandelion petals, pour the boiling water over them to make the tea infusion.
- Let it steep for at least an hour and up to 24 hours.
Dandelion Jelly
- First, prepare the calcium water by combining ½ tsp of calcium powder (from the Pomona's Pectin package) with ½ cup water in a small jar. Shake well. Any extra calcium water can be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
- Place the jars in a large pot with enough water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat and keep the jars in the hot water until it is time to use them.
- Place the lids in a small pot and heat to a low boil, then turn the heat off and keep them in the hot water until ready to use.
- Using a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth, strain the dandelion tea and compost the spent petals.
- Pour 4 cups of dandelion tea into a medium saucepan. If necessary, add a small amount of water to bring the tea up to meet this measurement.
- Add 4 teaspoons of the calcium water and lemon juice, and mix well.
- In a small bowl, mix the honey or sugar and pectin together until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- Heat the jelly in a pot until it comes to a full boil. Add the pectin-honey mixture and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes until the jelly comes back up to a boil.
- Once the jelly returns to a boil, remove it from the heat.
- Fill the hot jars with the jelly leaving ¼ inch of space at the top. Wipe the rims clean, and pop any bubbles as necessary. Cover the jars with a lid and ring.
- To can, place the filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil for 10 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1,000 feet above sea level).
- Remove from the water and let the jars cool, then check to make sure they are sealed.
- Eat within a year. Once opened, the jelly lasts 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Could you use surejell low sugar and honey?
No. This recipe was only tested with Pomona’s Pectin.
Are the pedals used fresh or can they be used dry also? When I separate the pedals from green part, they are fluffy on lower half of pedals, wonder if I should just cut off the top part.
The petals are used fresh. Dried dandelion flowers turn into puffballs of seeds.