Lavender Wine Jelly, Cranberry Conserve, and Mandarin Jam

January 8, 2010 at 10:41 am | Posted in cooking, Food, Holiday cooking, photography, Recipes, Vegetarian | 21 Comments
Tags: canning, clementine jam, conserve, cooking, cranberry conserve, flowers, Food, food storage, fruit canning, jam, jelly, Lavender, lavender jelly, lavender wine jelly, mandarin jam, photography, wine jelly, winter canning

I love to look into my pantry and freezer to find all the goodies I’ve stored from summer and fall. I have to admit, the heat in of summer and the physical demands of gardening can make it a bit exhausting to add canning to the list of things to do. I have found winter canning is much easier because I don’t have the physical demands of the gardens and cooking actually warms a cool kitchen.

I set out to find great deals on mandarins/clementines, pears, Meyer lemons, and other winter fruits. I still have a list of more canning to complete this winter.

Although it is not a “winter” choice, I had dried culinary lavender flowers leftover from this past summer. While visiting Lavender Hills Farm in Marysville, Washington, I picked up a small amount of culinary lavender to bake in a cake. I never got around to baking the lavender pound cake , but I did try my hand at some lavender wine jelly. I’m very happy with the results!

ABOVE: Clockwise from left- Lavender Chardonnay Jelly, Mandarin Jam, Cranberry Orange Conserve

My entire house smelled like lavender as the dried flowers steeped in hot water. I had a free aromatherapy session as I cooked.

The recipe called for food coloring, but the pink color was so pretty, that after adding one small drop of purple food coloring, I stopped and decided to back off.

For recipes and more photos, please click below…

Lavender Chardonnay Jelly

I love this lavender jelly spread very thin over a fresh cheese on a crostini cracker. The pink color looks lovely over the white fresh cheese and would be perfect at an afternoon tea on a delicate scone.

¼ cup dried lavender flowers
2 ½ cups water
4 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup chardonnay
1 drop purple liquid food coloring
½ bottle or 1 packet liquid pectin

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in lavender leaves, remove from heat, and let steep for 15 minutes.

Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer or a layer of cheesecloth, reserving the liquid. Measure 2 cups of the liquid and return to the saucepan.

Return to the stove and stir in sugar, chardonnay, and drop food coloring. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add pectin, return to a full boil, and continue boiling for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Ladle lavender jelly into sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of the top. Wipe tops of jars and screw on sterilized lids. Process in a boiling water bath according to your canner’s instructions.

Yield: about 3 half-pints

Cranberry Orange Conserve

Fresh cranberries, dried golden raisins, walnuts, and oranges.

Cranberry Orange Conserve

Undeniably my favorite thing to serve beside a roasted chicken or turkey! If you eat this you’ll never want to open a plain can of cranberry sauce again!

1 orange (unpeeled), seeded and finely chopped (Approx. 3/4 c to 1 cup)
2 c water
4 c cranberries
1/2 c raisins (i use golden)
3 c granulated sugar
1/2 c chopped nuts (I use walnuts)

Combine orange and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, partially cover, and boil until peel is tender, about 5 minutes. Add cranberries, raisins, and sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Return to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Boil hard until mixture thickens, 10-15 minutes. Stir in nuts and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and test gel.

Skim foam and pack into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process 15 minutes in BWB.

MANDARIN JAM

Can be found here, at The Traveler’s Lunchbox, and it is a favorite of mine! I made this after the boxes of clementines went on sale at the market. Nothing better than slathering on a spoonful of this on toast, scones, biscuits, cornbread, you name it!

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21 Comments »

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That pink is stunning! I’ve never seen anything canned with that color!

Comment by Michele— January 8, 2010 #

Reply
- Thank you Michelle! I had never tried lavender jelly before, and it has a very interesting taste. The sweetness from the wine and the lavender make such a delicate flavor.
  
  Comment by angelnina— January 8, 2010 #
  
  Reply
They all look so gorgeous and delicious. I definitely want to try to Cranberry Orange Conserve.
Lillian

Comment by quilt32— January 9, 2010 #

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- Lillian, I’m a cranberry fanatic, so I hope you like it!
  
  Comment by angelnina— January 17, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Angelnina,
These colors,and I bet the aromas and tastes, are quite the January treat. I’m a lavender fan, anyway.
I’m one of the SAGBUTT folks and I saw your note on fb. I think we just moved into a winter quiet spell with the group. We first got started this time last year by Karen, at Greenwalks, and have had some fun and interesting meet-ups & tours. Glad you found the fb group and stay in touch for more… Paula

Comment by Paula— January 17, 2010 #

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- Hi Paula! Oh, I’m so excited to hear it hasn’t closed. I’d love to meet other garden bloggers in the area. I suppose things will start to kick in high gear here pretty soon. It’s getting close to that time of year.
  
  Oh, the lavender wine jelly made my house smell amazing. Thanks for the intro!
  
  Comment by angelnina— January 17, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Great post – and I love your Chicken pics!
~ Diana ~

Comment by dianasantos— February 2, 2010 #

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- Thank you Diana!
  
  Comment by angelnina— February 4, 2010 #
  
  Reply
I don’t know anything about cooking with lavender but I stumbled across your blog while doing a google search. I had (almost) the same idea as you to make jelly using lavender and a white wine. I want to try muscato which is really sweet and makes a great jelly.

The only difference is I would like to not cook the lavender and just put the flowers in the wine while dissolving the sugar. I can imagine how beautiful they would be if I could have them suspended in the jelly. I can’t find anyone who has done this (except for one google image and the flowers ended up looking like bugs!).

Anyhow, I am bookmarking this post. You’ve inspired me to branch out from my normal jellies! Thank you!!

Comment by Emily— February 4, 2010 #

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- Emily, I think that is a great idea! I suppose with the fresh flowers they shouldn’t be too hard to chew on either. Happy to inspire, and thank you for sharing with me. Let me know if you do make the lavender jelly with the flowers.
  
  Comment by angelnina— February 4, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Anita,
I Loved your blog, I didn’t realize you were so into cooking, Beautiful work!!!!!

Love, Val

Comment by Val Payne— April 5, 2010 #

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- VAL! So nice to hear from you. I am very happy to hear the good news
  Yes, I’m a cooking/baking fanatic. I also love photography.
  Do you blog?
  
  Comment by angelnina— April 5, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Love the idea with the Chardonnay!!! Will try it….

Comment by Sue Stretch— October 7, 2010 #

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Hi Sue! Yes, the Charddonay gives it that something special kick

Comment by angelnina— November 21, 2010 #

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Yay! Another Washingtonian! I grew up on the Olympic Peninsula but am in Ohio now and constantly long to move home.

Your lavender wine jelly makes me miss the Lavender festival in Sequim, so I’ll have to try the recipe. I may also try a version using curacao instead of the chardonnay…we’ll see.

One last random thought/question. Would you possibly consider selling the rounded jar(s) that I’m guessing contain the Mandarin Jam mentioned above? I actually found you when I googled “half pint jar” images because they’ve discontinued these jars and I’m desperately searching for them for my homemade raspberry jam. For some reason I think raspberry jam tastes better out of a raspberry-shaped jar.

Comment by Mara— December 5, 2010 #

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- Wow, you’re living close to the area I was born. I was born in Rochester, NY. You guys have great summers.
  Let me know if you make the jelly. I’m trying to remember where I bought those jars, but I think it was at a local super market. I’ll try to find some for you online. I don’t have anymore. I agree with you about shapes of jars making things taste better HA!
  
  Comment by angelnina— December 9, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Hello Angelina,
I tried the same lavender jelly as you did, only I used reisling…very sweet! My jelly came out like a syrup though, I did not do the last step, the 10 min. water bath. I thought that was just to help seal, but obviously it does much more. I have never made jelly before, I am a soap maker by trade and have a small lavender farm in Red Creek NY…about an hour east of Rochester. Any suggestions as to how to salvage this batch? Can the water bath be done once the “jelly” has cooled?
Thanks, Sue

Comment by Sue Chmieleski— January 10, 2011 #

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I made some lavender jelly this fall. tI was wonderful. I was just wondering where you get the lavender flowers. I grow my own lavender but wanted to make more jelly this winter. I don’t have the flowers available.
Thanks Cheryll

Comment by Cheryll— January 12, 2011 #

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I’m the founder/moderator for Punk Domestics (www.punkdomestics.com), a community site for those of use obsessed with, er, interested in DIY food. It’s sort of like Tastespotting, but specific to the niche. I’d love for you to submit this to the site. Good stuff!

Comment by Sean— April 1, 2011 #

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- Thanks! Your site looks interesting
  
  Comment by angelnina— June 6, 2011 #
  
  Reply
Thanks for the inspiration! I used a bit more lavender and added lemon juice and zest. I also reduced the sugar to 1 cup and used a no sugar needed pectin. It turned out so good!! I’ll be making more because it just isn’t going to be enough!

Comment by Laurie— September 13, 2011 #

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Angelnina’s Cottage