Except for a small amount of fruit juice in the freezer, there is very little fruit available at the farm in the spring for making jams and jellies.

One day, as I looked around the yard and the nearby field, I noticed a lot of yellow. There was the answer to my problem — dandelions. The dandelions are certified organic, and we have plenty of them.

Several years ago, I had tried making dandelion jelly. I had found it was a lot of trouble as the yellow petals had to be pulled off and the white tips removed. It was a painstaking process that took hours.

This time, I tried a new recipe for dandelion jelly. I pinched off just the dandelion flowers, leaving me with a black spot on both thumb nails. I soaked and washed them in water, then drained the water out. I added fresh water and boiled the flowers. After I let them cool, I strained the infusion through a sieve and then a coffee filter. With this dandelion infusion, the jelly-making had begun.

Dandelion jelly is not a strong tasting jelly, but has a delightful, slightly honey favor. It is great to make and use in early spring when nothing else is ready for making fresh jelly.

If you decide to make your own dandelion jelly, be sure to pick the flowers in the morning, after the dew is off of them. If you wait until afternoon, you won't be able to find but a handful as the flowers will already have closed up.

DANDELION JELLY

1 quart of tightly packed fresh organic bright-yellow dandelion flower heads
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped
5-1/2 cups sugar
1 package dry pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter

Using a stainless steel pan, boil the flowers in 2 quarts of water for 10 minutes. Cool, strain, then strain again through a coffee filter.

Measure 3 cups of the infusion, add the lemon juice, zest, pectin and butter into a large pan.

Bring to a rolling boil, add sugar and stir to mix well. Continue to stir while boiling hard for 1-1/2 minutes. Skim foam from top of jelly and pour into hot, clean jelly jars and seal.

Process jars in a hot water bath. If you don't know how to preserve foods by processing them, you can download a guide from extension.usu.edu/files/foodpubs/cangui1b.pdf. (Editor's note: Jelly that has not been preserved can be stored in the refrigerator.)