Dandelion Jam

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   First, the dandelion flowers need to be gathered properly. Pick them in the middle of the day.

2. Step 2:

   

   Pick only fully opened flowers.

3. Step 3:

   

   Half-closed ones like these won't do. It all comes down to the amount of pollen. In an open dandelion the pollen is ripe; in a closed one it's either past its prime or not yet mature.

4. Step 4:

   

   To make one 650-gram jar of dandelion jam, you'll need 200 dandelion flowers, 600 grams of sugar, half a liter of water, and half a teaspoon of citric acid. This time I made a double batch using a liter of water.

5. Step 5:

   

   There are several ways to make dandelion jam. Dandelion stems contain a milky sap that's bitter. To get rid of that bitterness, most recipes soak the dandelions for 24 hours. I'm offering you a no-soak version. We'll use only the flower petals, without the stems and sepals. To do that, snip off the yellow part of the dandelion with scissors.

6. Step 6:

   

   This is what the snipped petals of 200 dandelions look like. To preserve as much pollen — and therefore as many of the dandelion's healing properties — as possible, we won't even rinse our future jam. Cover the dandelion petals with water right away and set them on the stove.

7. Step 7:

   

   Once it comes to a boil, add a very important ingredient — citric acid. It locks in the jam's beautiful yellow color and keeps the sugar from crystallizing.

8. Step 8:

   

   Boil the dandelions for 30 minutes, but the key is to keep the heat low. Then turn off the heat and let the infusion steep for an hour. Even at this stage you'll notice a lovely honey aroma.

9. Step 9:

   

   Strain the infusion through a double layer of cheesecloth and squeeze the flowers well. Add the sugar and return the jam to the heat. At first you need to stir the jam constantly with a spoon so the sugar doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pot. Once all the sugar has dissolved, you can stop stirring. Cook for about 30 minutes more. The longer the jam cooks, the thicker it gets.

10. Step 10:

    

    Pour the finished jam into jars while it's still hot. As it cools, the dandelion jam will thicken, the foam will settle, and it will come to resemble bee honey.