First preserve of 2011 - Dandelime Jam

A lot of people spend a lot of time killing dandelions on their lawn, fair enough - thats their business, but I would suggest you let them flower first, then collect before they can run to seed and make use of them, you can always spray with poison afterwards.
This is free and unusual food, all you buy is sugar and lime - maybe some pectin.

This recipe is based on a traditional French jam made with lemon, I use lime as I prefer the zing they have.
There are two varients I make, a jam and a syrup.

200 gm (2 teacups) Dandelion petal heads - the green leaf and stem bits removed as they are bitter

1 Litre boiling water

zest of 1 lime

juice of 1 lime

300ml (3 teacups) sugar
1 tsp Pectin (this is already added in jam making sugar)

Place two cups of dandelion heads into a mixing bowl and add the zest of the lime.
Pour two cups of boiling water over.
Leave overnight to infuse.
You can add a few apple peels to help the setting process

After soaking pour the mixture through a sieve to separate all the leaves.

Add the lime juice and bring the mixture to the boil.
Add the sugar and pectin and boil rapidly for 10 minutes, then start checking while it reduces for set point.
This will take some time, but you can always try a little carrageen seaweed to thicken it up - you will need to sieve it out at the end though.

After it reaches the desired consistancy, pour the mixture into warm sterile jars and waterbath.
These processes are explained in an earlier posting that you can read here.

Always date and label.
Once opened, consume within one month.

There is another option, by not adding pectin, you can simply reduce the liquid by about 30% and create a lovely syrup for puddings, toast etc. It is delicious.

Again, as always thanks for reading and please feel free to make any comments or suggestions.