We have a family reunion in KC soon (one of my favorite cities). I can’t wait.
It has been a tradition that each family bring a little something to share. In the past, the family has shared specially printed family reunion T-shirts, handmade jewelry, handcrafted gifts and food items and even seeds and plants.
I had originally wanted to make homemade strawberry jam, but alas, strawberry season came and went without time to make anything. My next thought was to make a wine jelly. I had never tried this before, but I thought it would be fairly easy. I started a web search.
I ran across a “Lavender Wine Jelly Recipe” from Family, Food, and Other Things. I decided to give it a try.
I bought the cheapest (and biggest) bottle of wine and had dried lavender on hand:
Lavender-Wine Jelly
2 cups Sauvignon Blanc (I used the cheapest I could find.)
1 T. dried lavender
2 c. sugar
1 (3 oz.) pkg. liquid pectin
Combine wine and lavender in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and cover. Let steep 20 minutes.
Strain lavender buds and place wine in a large saucepan. Stir in sugar. Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring mixture to a full boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir in the pectin and bring back to a rolling boil. Stirring constantly, boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and skim off foam (if necessary). Pour into sterilized jelly jars, place cap on each clean rim, screw on ring and place in a water bath for 10 minutes.
So, I made two batches. One turned out great. I now have eight small gift jars of beautiful Lavender Wine Jelly to give out. My second batch? Well, I have eight small gift jars of Lavender Wine syrup to give out. 🙂
I love lavender—love to grow it, pick it, smell it. I have a bottle of lavender linen water that I spritz my pillow with after a stressful day. Besides this jelly, I have also made lavender sugar, lavender herbed salt, and lavender sugar cookies. All of these things make great gifts, too. Check them out.
I also made one batch of Garlic Rosemary Jelly to take.
Much thanks to Family, Food, and Other Things for the inspiration.
Glad I could inspire you ;o). I still have some dried lavender left and should make this jelly again soon ;o).
No, thank you! It seemed to be a hit at the reunion (even the “syrup”!)
[…] gifts during the holidays, I think that I might need to revisit some specialty jams this fall like Lavendar-Wine Jelly or some other interesting […]