May 2026

How to Make Flower Jellies + Violet Jelly Recipes

Looking for flower jelly recipes? Catherine S. Pond share three recipes you can make with flowers straight from your yard.Edible spring and summer flowers make the perfect ingredients for transforming into delicate jellies. Not only are they delicious and easy to make, but the end result will also be naturally colored and make great gifts or the perfect addition to your next tea party—and definitely yummy on biscuits or scones!

Flowers You Can Make Into Jellies

Although I've only made violet jelly, you can use many different types of edible flowers for jellies, including:

Dandelion
Forsythia
Lilac
Redbud
Rose
Violet (or Pansy or Johnny Jump-Ups)

NOTE: Use unsprayed flowers and remove any stems or greenery. You don’t need to wash them, and make sure to pick them when they aren’t wet. A little morning dew is fine!

Violet jelly has to be the easiest jelly I've ever made: the hardest part, to be honest, is leaning down and picking the delicate flowers!

After a good forty-five minutes of picking one early spring morning (myself, our youngest boy and his friend––ok, I paid them!)––and lots of me saying "OH, look at the Jack-in-the-Pulpit! The trillium!" (a new cache we discovered up the road from our farm) or the kids showing me great new finds like clusters of small yellow violets––we, miraculously it seemed, had 2 heaping cups of violet blossoms (the recipe for jelly called for four cups of violets, but more about that in a moment).

I used to pick Johnny Jump Ups, the wild pansy variety, which grew all over our lawns when we lived in New Hampshire, to crystallize and decorate small cakes at the country museum tea room I used to operate.

They have a subtly sweet flavor and are perfect for dainty desserts or just thrown into a salad. You can even make them into vinegar and sherbet.

As there are many varieties of violets in Kentucky that grow on roadsides and at the edges of fields before the grasses come in, and early in the spring, I wanted to find ways to "put them up," particularly the prolific sweet purple violet. [There are other more scarce varieties that grow in the woodlands.] I was not disappointed.

NOTE: You will want to pick in an area that is not sprayed, or, at least, has not been sprayed since the summer prior. As they are the first flowers on the roadside, you should be fine as long as you choose a less-traveled road, or better yet, your own yard or farm lane!

Violet Jelly Recipe [or most any jelly made from edible flowers]

This recipe can be modified as a base for any of the flowers mentioned in equal measure.

Ingredients:

2 cups violets (see below)
juice of 1 lemon
4 cups sugar
1 packet of Sure-Gel

Yield: 4-5 half-pint jars of jelly

How to Make:

The Night Before

Place the freshly picked violets in a glass quart jar and cover with boiling water to the top of the jar. You will see the violet petals immediately start to steep and cast off a lovely pale blue. Cover and set aside to rest overnight or for at least a few hours.

The next morning, the violets will have floated all through the "violet tea" and will be pale in color. Strain the "tea" through a sieve, into a quart measuring cup or bowl, and discard petals.

NOTE: I used two cups of violets and doubled the recipe everywhere else, so I was technically using half the amount of violets and got double the amount of jelly. However, I believe I got the same intended effect. Using four cups of violets probably just intensifies the flavor a bit more.

Jelly Making Process

Add the lemon juice and watch the pale violet color transform before your eyes!
Pour the violet and lemon juice mixture into a non-reactive pan.
Mix in the powdered pectin.
Add the sugar and stir until boiling. Then boil again, hard, for one minute.
Pour into sterilized half-pint glasses and boil in a water bath canner for ten minutes to seal.

And voila! Violet jelly!

Enjoy liberally on toast, scones, biscuits, pancakes and whatever your heart desires. The flavor is floral, sweet and crisp with hints of berry, basically the taste of spring in a delicate spread!

Looking For More Heritage and Farm-Fresh Recipes?

Check out these recipes from Catherine S. Pond and other Rethink:Rural contributors: