This spring of 2022 we came home from Florida in May to peonies ready to burst. We have about 10 blooming plants out along our fence lining the front yard from Wildflower Lane. White, deep pink, magenta and light pink are abundant. One plant had at least 50 peonies, most the size of saucers.
I took them in every day for a huge bouquet on the dining room table and added more bouquets as the days progressed. I try to only cut blossoms that have no unbloomed buds.
Gerry decided to make peony tea while I was away celebrating my 70th with childhood girlfriends. I came home to about a gallon of the tea.
I wasn't fond of the tea taste - there was no sugar and Gerry steeped it for 7 days days after gently boiling with fresh lemon slices. So, I brewed and steeped more tea from more blossoms and ended up with about a gallon from Gerry's tea and my tea to make peony jelly. Make sure you rinse your petals in a bucket to remove all the dust, pollen, stamen, and bugs. Then boil with fresh water to and brew at least 24 hours. We had plenty of magenta petals and the tea was a beautiful color after brewing and steeping. We actually had more blossoms and I will use all of them next year!
I also want to try dandelion and lilac jelly. I hear that violet jelly is lovely, but we don't have violets.
Let me just say here that peony jelly is delicious - a lovely flavor of strawberries and peaches. With this recipe it is a soft, spoonable jelly in 1/2 pint jars. In larger jars it is more runny. We plan to serve it plain, or over ice cream. The runner jelly I will serve over cream cheese (on crackers) or as a glaze for fruit or meats.
The recipe I used was a YouTube recipe. I'll use another next time and see if the jelly is a bit more solid. There are many recipes online. Some call for boiling the juice and pectin and citrus first and adding sugar after the first boil. Basically, this is what I did.
Place the petals in a lightweight towel and squeeze out all the juice. In batches of 8 cups of peony tea, add 8 cups sugar and 2 T lemon or lime juice. Bring it to a full boil and 8 T pectin (classic dry.) Boil 10 minutes. Skim any foam or gunk off the top.
Fill a glass pitcher with a spout lip and fill clean, hot Mason jars. Seal, tighten and boil in a water bath for 10 minutes.
