Roses are Smelly, Violets are Jelly

Hey y'all!  This is me starting a new blog!  It's supposed to be a blog on how-to.. though I fully expect it to be more of a how-not-to... please, learn from me learning the hard way!  It's Old South New, because I want to take the best of the old and make it work for the new.. My grandparents taught me so much, and I don't want to lose that important knowledge that helps make us independent and free.  I want to expand on it and adapt it in cool news ways... like making violet jelly.  

And before I forget (and if you like this blog), please "follow" me over on the right side of the page.  In a few weeks, I am going to do a violet jelly give-away to one of my "followers"!  (Old school name-out-of-a-hat-thing.)  And then I'm going to ask my "followers" to jump on a comet.

I'm kidding, of course.  This is not a cult, just a blog.  Welcome to my very first post!  So, about these violets. 

Beautiful violets... gracing my eroded, clayey hillside. 

A little about violets: Violets like moist, well-drained soil with winter sun and summer shade... hey, I like winter sun and summer shade too.  I hear they like low calcium soils too.  I guess my yard isn't drinking enough milk.
And did you know violets were a symbol for Athens, Greece?  They were traded in the Greek agoras back in the day.  The name "viola" apparently comes from the Greek myth of Io, one of Zeus' poor loves.  See, she was turned into a cow, and was given violets to eat to help her feelings.  So basically, you'll have a body like a Greek goddess if you eat violets.  So what if she was a cow.

(Thanks to Gardens Illustrated for this quick history.)

Let's discuss a few things first.

1. Seriously?  Is a jelly made from violets tasty?  I think it is!  It reminds me of a jolly rancher!  And... it's so pretty! It's a beautiful pink color.. I feel so Marie Antoinette having it on my toast.  I can see it going over really well at a little girl's tea party.. Seriously, there's something that makes me feel really fancy about eating violet jelly.  And something that makes me feel really peasant-like about foraging for food.

Did peasants have down jackets and mason jars?  While I'm thinking about it.. if possible, gather your violets on cool days--less bugs are out and about, which, to me, means no washy. 

2. It's super easy.  I was scared of jelly making--though my butt is not.  Still, I was afraid it wouldn't jell.  Right?  You've heard all the jelly horror stories, and surely you've had runny jelly.  I just looked that pectin square in the face, and threw it in the hot water!

(Also, I googled "jell" and "gel." Jell is a verb meaning to become firmer/thicker, and gel is the actual thicker substance.  I see "gel" everywhere, so I was second guessing myself.)

3. This is a recipe for low-sugar violet jelly.  There are a lot of recipes out there for violet jelly, though no one that I've mentioned it to has ever heard of it.  And as I recall, South Georgia really grows more bahia grass than violets, so maybe that's another reason.  But, here I am in the Piedmont of North Carolina with a yard FULL of violets.  I googled, "things to do with violets," and here we are.  Many other recipes out there are fantastic, and many kinda say the same thing.  My problem was that I wanted low sugar, which really narrowed the field.  And I could only find the Ball brand low sugar pectin in the stores--and I wanted low sugar.  This does not come in pre-measured packets, so I was frettin'.  Some darling canning queen wrote this long story about how Ball had changed things up, and I'm all confused, because I hate to admit it, but I had NEVER made jelly before.  (I'm sure my Mema is ashamed.)  Apparently, what is one packet of low sugar Sure-Jell is equal to 3 tablespoons of Ball low sugar pectin.

And my goal in sharing this information is to hopefully give you some more quantitative instructions.  Like I said, I was afraid of jelly not jelling, and so when I read things like, "bring it to a boil and then reduce until thick" without any time or heat quantities... My jelly anxiety went through the roof.

4. I'm sure the fine folks over at the jelly conglomerates are doing business with the health of the people as their first and foremost priority.  Money is nothing and you should put whatever in food to make it taste good.  Whaaaatt?? You don't like a little high fructose corn syrup to go with your heart disease, sweetie?  Ok, obviously, we know shouldn't eat too much sugar (even pure cane sugar), so go easy on the jelly--though the recipe I'm about to share is "low sugar," it is not sugar free.

No really.  Here's the deal.  I want to (one day) be independent from the industrial food system.  I want to be responsible for my food instead of someone else who may or may not care what they feed someone they don't know.  Making jelly from this beautiful wild flower (or weed, depending on your outlook) is one way for me to do that.  Oh, thanks Ball for making the pectin... I am totally dependent on you. 

5. Also, I did read on the internet (so I know it's true), that violets are a mild laxative.  Heehee.  Put that in your colon and poop it. 

Or if your plumbing is a little backed up, go out there, drop down on all fours, and get to grazing.    

Gathering the violets:
I'm so fancy, my weeds... I mean.. my violets are organic.  Most other violet recipes say to gather your violets from a place that hasn't been sprayed with chemicals and in a place where your pets don't potty.  I say, it depends on who you're making it for... I mean, if it's a person you don't really like... let's say maybe you do gather them from the area where your dog does dirty business. 

But you won't want to give this jelly away, so let's get crackin'.

First, gather about 2 cups of violets.  Make sure they are violets and not vinca (aka periwinkle).  Periwinkle is a chemo drug.. you don't want to be eating that.  You can identify violets by their heart shaped leaves. 

See.  Heart-shaped leaves.  And... they are purple. 

Ingredients:
2+ cups of violets
2 cups of water
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 cups of sugar
Low sugar pectin (I used 3 tablespoons of the Ball brand low sugar pectin)
...and time and love, darlin'.

This is the Ball "Low or No Sugar" Pectin I used.  (And beside it are my jar lids... you see that?  Made in the USA!  Good for you Ball... American jobs, not Chinese imports.)

Note:  You may want to wash your violets, especially if it is a warmer day with bugs crawling.  But, then again... come on babe, take a walk on the wild side...

Yield: (4) 8 oz jelly jars.  That is the goal... Good luck... the last one may be half full, if you're optimistic.  My yield varied, but was usually around (3) 8 oz jars and (1) 4 oz jar.. it depends on how you skim it, I think.  

Method:
I boiled 2 cups of water and poured it over my 4 cups of violets in a quart mason jar.  I let it sit from 7pm until about 6am the next morning.  (Not by choice, my darling husband left for work at 5:30am... we don't do this for fun.)

I strained the water into a measuring cup to make sure I had two cups of water.

You see how dark it is?  The pictures I saw in my recipe search had the water looking a lighter, pretty blue-purple color.. not like Okefenokee swamp water.  So, I decided to bust up the two cups of navy swamp water and dilute it.. and make two batches for the first try.  (You know, just in case.)  I poured one cup of swamp water into another measuring cup and added one cup of tap water, equaling two cups of more blue-purple water.  I made the third batch with darker water, and this created darker jelly.  I had the same dark water for the fourth, so I decided to do 1.5 recipes.  This gave me a lighter, pinker finished jelly.  My point is, just go with it... I think light or dark purple water works--just don't forget to add your sugar. 

(Also, please keep in mind this was in North Carolina.. you may need more or less boiling time depending on your location... so I hear.)

Next, I squeezed one lemon into a measuring cup.  I was just shy of 1/4 cup of lemon juice, so I added some from the fridge to get to a 1/4 cup.

Then, I poured the lemon juice in the blue-purple liquid and it turned a pretty fuschia-magenta color! 

(Ok, it doesn't look exactly blue-purple here, but it kinda was...)

(Did I just hear some mom whisper "science fair project"?  I've read about dandelion jelly too.. so there's a start...)

Next, I poured the diluted swamp water/lemon juice mix into a saucepan and turned the heat on high.

As the temperature was increasing, I added 3 tablespoons of pectin and stirred it in.  Next, I added two cups of sugar and stirred that in, until the sugar and pectin was all dissolved.  Then, I allowed it to come to a rolling boil.  Next, I reduced the heat (to about 3 or 4 on my stove) and stirred it for 10-12 minutes until I felt like it was ready.

Golly, I hate to be so ambiguous here (and I'm making all men reading this nervous because I'm talking about feelings...), but I was literally stirring, stressing, calling my sister-in-law, and adjusting the heat until I thought I might be at some consistency that would jell once it cooled.  I simmered it until I got that feeling.  Also, once you add the pectin, a little of the mixture adheres to the whisk.  The little clumps get bigger and you can tell they are jelly-ish.  And that's a good sign.

(See it clinging to the whisk?!)

I had my jars and lids in a simmering pot, and I got the jars out and prepared them to be filled.  I broke out my funnel, and on the first batch, I ignored the part about skimming the foam off the top.  I went straight into ladling into the jars.  What a cowgirl.

You may want to skim off the top so you won't end up with white bubbly in the top of your jelly.  It's just prettier that way, but you do lose a lot of jelly.  On the later batches, I skimmed as it was simmering, and that seemed to help some, but I couldn't get rid of all the bubbles.  I read that adding butter or oil helped, so I threw in a dash of olive oil on batch 4, but couldn't tell a difference.  Since I'm not Aunt Bee, and I'm not entering my jelly at the state fair, I'm going to just have jelly with bubbles.  I tried to put most of the foam that I couldn't get out into a sacrifice jar..  

Then, I put the lids on and placed them in a hot water bath.  With the water boiling, I let them rattle around for 10 minutes.

Hot water bath.  You see the four jars?  I got six "pops" for that batch.  I can't do that math, but I really thought I heard six pops.  I took it as a good sign that all four jars had sealed.

I got the jars out and let them sit.  Before heading into work about an hour later, I could tell these puppies were jelling.  I was super excited!  I also ate some on some rosemary toast (because that's all I had)... and it was gooood.

End method, start discussion:
Now, I had read that you had to bring your mix to a rolling boil before adding the sugar and pectin or it wouldn't jell well.  So, on batch two, I brought the violet/lemon juice to a boil and then added the sugar and pectin.  I added 3.5 tablespoons for the second batch (because I wasn't sure if the first had jelled at this point) and I read elsewhere that this was the equivalent of Ball low sugar pectin to 1.75 oz of low sugar Sure-Jell (which was what the recipe I was following said to use).  I also only cooked for about 8 minutes on low-med heat, stirring.  I think batch one turned out the best, and have went back to using 3 tablespoons of Ball's low sugar pectin, and simmering for about 10 minutes... until I get that feeling.

Annnnd about the pectin... The ingredients in Ball's low sugar pectin include: dextrose (a sugar), fruit pectin (from fruit), citric acid (assists gel; also preserves foods and is the acid found in citrus fruits), calcium ascorbate (retains color; a combination of calcium and vitamin C).  From my brief research, it doesn't appear that any of these things are harmful.  Obviously, I trust a tangerine from a tree more than something powdery from a lab.. but, I don't know any other way to get a good jell.

Well, there's that.  I hope this helps some adventurous violet jelly maker out there.  I am going to cut out a bunch of crap and write a condensed version of the instructions below.  But, if you are out there searching for a recipe and are having the same questions I had, I hope all this helps.

Short and Sweet Instructions:
1. Gather 2 cups of violets.  Non-compacted will do.
2. Clean them if you don't want to live on the edge.
3. Pour 2 c boiling water over the violets, cover, and let sit for 2 to 24 hours.
4. Strain the violet water.  If you don't have 2 cups, add a little water until you do have 2 c.
5. Add 1/4 c lemon juice.
6. Pour in a saucepan and turn the heat to high.  In the meantime, add 3 tablespoons Ball low sugar pectin (or apparently 1 packet of low sugar Sure-Jell).  Stir in.  Then add 2 c sugar.  Stir in.
7. Bring violet/lemon mix to a rolling boil, and make sure pectin and sugar dissolve.
8. Reduce heat to med-low and continue whisking, about 10-12 minutes.  You may skim the foam while simmering if you please.
9. When the mixture begins to form a little adhesive on the whisk, take it as a good sign, and ready your jars. 
10. Skim the top if you feel the need/pressure.
11. Ladle into jars.  Put the lids on jars.
12. Boil in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
13. Listen for the pops.. let cool.. and eat that mess up.

Gotta go!  (I ate too much of the jelly!)