Dandelion is a popular flower in cooking. In the preparation of dishes has long been used all parts of this plant. They make jam from the cap, salads from the leaves, drinks from the root, and medicinal extracts from the juice.
Dandelion is a unique, tasty and healthy plant, which in most cases is mistaken for a weed and is treated appropriately, which is very vain! After all, from this incredible flower you can make an appetizing, amber jam, which in its structure, color and taste is very similar to honey. To give the jam a special taste, it is customary to add citrus fruits, strawberry leaves, currants or cherries to dandelion flowers.
Dandelion jam with lemon - general principles of cooking
For making jam dandelion flowers should be collected in the spring in good sunny weather, preferably in the morning. Jam of them must be done immediately, otherwise they will wither.
Blow cold water over the dandelions and cut the stems with leaves. Then, in order to get all the living creatures out of the flowers, immerse them in water. If you do not want the pollen to wash off, just shake the flowers and place them for half an hour on a flat surface.
You can make jam with a green stem or only from yellow petals. In the second case, the green part simply should be cut with scissors.
During cooking, you need to try to keep all the usefulness of dandelions. To do this, do not strain the jam immediately after cooking, you need to let it stand for at least half a day. After pressing jam, you can boil it again. Filter out the decoction of the flowers better through gauze or linen cloth.
Lemon in jam can be easily replaced with citric acid. It does not particularly affect the taste, but the usefulness of the dish is slightly reduced. Also in the jam, you can add any other fruit to taste.
Dandelion jam with lemon - a classic recipe
Ingredients:
• 400 g yellow dandelion flowers;
• 1 kg 200 g of granulated sugar;
• two lemons;
• half a liter of boiled water.
Preparation:
1. First you need to process the dandelion flowers. They need to be cleaned of stalks and leaves, put in a large bowl and pour cool water. Leave for a day. During this time, the flowers will leave an extra bitterness, and all the small insects that may be in the petals will come out.
2. Wash the lemons, pour over boiling water and rinse with cold water. Remove the zest from the lemons. This can be done with a special tool or with a knife. Then the zest should be crushed into a small cube or grate. The lemons themselves cut in half and squeeze the juice out of them.
3. Drain the bitter water and squeeze the flowers, put them in a saucepan and add boiled water. Put the pan on the heating plate and add sugar, juice and lemon zest. Stir well. Cook with constant stirring for about 15 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat, leave the pan open for about an hour. Again put on a moderate heat and cook, constantly stirring, another 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat again and leave the pan with the jam for 30-40 minutes.
6. Last time put the pan on the fire and cook for 10-15 minutes.
7. Turn off the fire and leave the pan open for the natural cooling of the jam. After that, you can put the jam in sterilized jars and cork for further storage.
8. Such a jam is perfect for therapeutic use.
Dandelion jam with lemon and fruit
Ingredients:
• 400 g of dandelion flowers;
• 1 kg of granulated sugar;
• half a liter of boiled water;
• one orange;
• two lemons;
• one pear.
Preparation:
1. Sort, clear dandelion flowers from stalks and leaves, cover with cold water and leave for 24 hours. Then drain the water and squeeze the flowers.
2. Scald the orange and lemons with boiling water and wash with cold water. Cut off the zest and chop it finely. Cut in two halves and get the juice. 3. Wash and clean the pear, chop the pulp into puree.
4. Combine flowers, zest and citrus juice, water and sugar in a saucepan. Close it with a lid and insist about three hours. Strain.
5. Stir the food in a saucepan and put on the fire. Boil with constant stirring on moderate heat for about an hour. Remove the foam that appears on the surface of the jam.
6. Then cool the jam and roll into sterilized jars.
7. Such jam is perfect as a sauce for pancakes.
Dandelion jam with lemon and leaves of cherry and currant
Ingredients:
• 400 g of dandelion flowers;
• two kilograms of sugar;
• three lemons;
• 100 g of cherry and currant leaves;
• one and a half liters of boiled water.
Preparation:
1. Wash the lemons and scald with boiling water, rinse with cold water. Without peeling the skin, chop the lemon apart and put it in the blender bowl. Grind into mush.
2. Dandelions sort, wash, pull out yellow petals from each flower and place them in a saucepan.
3. Enumerate the leaves of the cherry and currant, select only whole ones that are not damaged. Rinse and dry a little.
4. Add to the pot to the flowers of dandelion leaves of cherry and currant, mix. Then add a slurry of lemon to the leaves and flowers.
5. Bring the water to a boil and pour it into the pan to the products. Leave for 24 hours to insist.
6. Strain the infusion and squeeze its ingredients.
7. Pour the infusion into the pan and add sugar to it. Stir and put on the stove.
8. Cook jam on low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula or ladle. Be sure to remove the foam.
9. Cook until thick. It will take about an hour.
10. Put the ready-made jam to cool directly in the pan, and then pour it into sterilized jars.
11. Such jam is perfect for impregnating biscuit cakes or muffins.
Dandelion jam with lemon, mint and tangerines
Ingredients:
• two medium lemons or 120 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice; • 500 g of yellow dandelion flower petals;
• 50 g of fresh mint leaves;
• three mandarins;
• two kilograms of sugar;
• one and a half liters of boiled water.
Preparation:
1. Prepare in advance the yellow petals of dandelion flowers.
2. Wash lemons and tangerines, cut in half and squeeze the juice in any convenient way.
3. Mint leaves to sort and wash.
4. Put the dandelion petals, mint leaves in a saucepan, pour out the juice of tangerines and lemons. Close the lid and insist in a cold day.
5. Then strain the infusion, squeeze the petals.
6. Mix the mixture with sugar and start to simmer with constant stirring until the syrup thickens. The finished jam will have a golden color.
7. Cool the jam and prepare for the winter.
8. Serve with curd cheesecakes, pancakes or just for tea.
Dandelion jam with lemon and pomegranate
Ingredients:
• 500 g of yellow dandelion petals;
• two lemons;
• one grenade;
• 1.5 liters of water;
• 2 kg of granulated sugar.
Preparation:
1. Dandelion flowers to sort, wash and pull out the yellow petals. They should be about half a kilo. Grind them into mush with a blender.
2. Wash lemons, rinse with boiling water and wash with cold water. Then chop the lemons in mashed potatoes with the skin. This can be done with a blender or meat grinder.
3. Wash the garnet, wipe it up and beat it a little on the table for softness, or roll the grenade on the table while pressing on it with a force. Then cut the garnet in half and wrap each half with two layers of gauze. From each half squeeze the juice into a bowl.
4. Put pomegranate juice, ground dandelion flowers, boiled water and lemon puree in a saucepan. Leave the prepared mass for a few hours in a cool place.
5. Then mix the contents of the pan with sugar and boil the jam until thick. At the same time you need to constantly stir it and remove the foam.
6. If you wish, roll up the jam in sterilized jars for the winter. 7. Serve with homemade sweet pastries.
Dandelion jam with lemon, grapefruit and apple
Ingredients:
• 500 g of yellow dandelion flowers;
• one ripe grapefruit;
• one lemon;
• one orange;
• 4 medium apples;
• 1.2 kg of granulated sugar.
Preparation:
1. To sort flowers, clean. Only yellow parts of flowers are needed. Wash them, dry and chop into puree.
2. Wash the fruit. Peel grapefruit, lemon and orange and squeeze juice.
3. Peel the apple, cut the core, and chop the flesh into mashed potatoes.
4. Mix applesauce and citrus juice, add 1 liter of water. Put the pan with the ingredients on the slow heating of the stove. Gradually add sugar. Stir jam cook for the entire cooking (about 1 hour).
5. Cool the prepared jam and spread it on the banks.
6. Serve such sweetness with oatmeal.
Lemon Dandelion Jam - Tricks and Useful Tips
• It must be borne in mind that green sepals can make bitterness of jam. To avoid this, they are either cut off, or the flowers are soaked in water for a long time, which is then drained.
• For a savory taste, add ground cinnamon or vanilla sugar to a decoction of flowers.
• It is better not to use the enameled pan for making jam, otherwise it may stain.
• Before pouring the jam into the jars, it is better to taste it, otherwise it will add the missing ingredients.
• As a medicine, it is recommended to dissolve a spoonful of jam in a glass with any liquid and use this mixture every morning on an empty stomach. For example, it can be dissolved in green tea or milk thistle solution.
• You can soak biscuit cakes with this jam.
