Sage Blossoms Part 1: Jelly

My sage blossomed! Such a gorgeous color, and such a nice addition to the green-on-green of the spring edible garden (before the explosion of red that will surely come when my tomato plants become overburdened with incredible quantities of tomatoes for once this time, right?). But being me, I couldn’t just admire them. I had to eat them. Or more accurately: put them up, then eat them. I ate a few right off the plant, and was surprised by their sweetness, with a subtle sagey undertone. So… sage blossom jelly.

I picked over the entire plant rather than cutting off the blossoms, using two hands to pull the purple blossoms out of the papery purple-green casings (sepals?). I got about two cups in the end.

I was inspired by this post about sage blossom syrup and she was inspired by this peony(!) jelly. Otherwise I used the mint jelly recipe off the Certo liquid pectin package except for adding the lemon juice before steeping.

2 cups sage blossoms
2 1/4 cups water
2 T lemon juice
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin
1/2 tsp butter

1. Clean blossoms. Bring water to boil and pour over the blossoms in a heat-safe bowl.
2. Cry a little when the beautiful purple blossoms turn brown.
3. Add the lemon juice now. Rejoice when the blossom-water turns pink! (This is why you add it now – it doesn’t work later, as I found out the hard way in another batch.)
4. Steep overnight.
5. Strain through a jelly bag if you have it, or in my case a tea filter bag. You should have about two cups of liquid.
6. Continue with the Certo cooked jam and jelly instructions: bring the liquid, sugar, and butter to a full rolling boil. Stir in the pectin, boil one minute, remove from heat, and skim. Ladle into jars with 1/8 inch headspace and process for 5 minutes.

I got two half-pints and four of my new cute little four-ounce jars out of this batch.

Suggested uses: on croissants because I’m fancy, as major-bonus-points gifts to friends who are also fancy, paired with a mild cheese like a goat cheese or brie, on a spoon for dessert… what would you do with it?

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