How to make delicious and healthy dandelion jam

unique dandelion jam Dandelion jam - thick, aromatic, as if concentrated sunlight in a jar. With the arrival of cold weather, when it is drizzling outside the windows or a winter blizzard is raging, there is nothing better than drinking a cup of warm tea with a bite with this dessert, remembering the warm summer days and getting a portion of good mood and health.

In order to make dandelion flower jam for the winter, it is not at all necessary to be the owner of your own garden or summer cottage. It is enough to find the area where this plant grows, and just to harvest sunny flowers, observing all the conditions of environmental safety, transportation and processing.

If, while walking out of town, you notice a clearing strewn with yellow, completely blossoming baskets, you can consider that you are provided with raw materials for an original and tasty delicacy.

It remains only to find out how to make dandelion jam, so that your blanks turn out to be tasty, healthy and stand for a sufficient amount of time without the risk of deterioration.

In our article, you will not only get acquainted with a step-by-step recipe for dandelion jam with a photo, but also discover some secrets on how to preserve and improve the natural taste of this dessert with the help of other products.

How to make dandelion jam a simple recipe

Let's start our acquaintance with the story of how to make dandelion jam according to the simplest recipe that any, even a novice hostess, can handle.

So, let's begin:

Step 1. You need to collect all the ingredients. They are quite simple - these are the dandelion heads themselves (you will need at least 400 - 500 pieces of them), pure filtered water - 2 glasses of 250 ml each and granulated sugar in the amount of 7 glasses.
Step 2. Prepare the raw materials - rinse the flowers under running water, dry them with a towel and cut off all excess parts.
Step 3. Place the dandelions in a saucepan or bowl and pour the amount of liquid indicated in the ingredients. Cover and leave overnight.
Step 4. In the morning, without shaking the contents, simply turn on the fire under the container with the future jam, bring to a boil and boil for no more than 2 - 3 minutes.
Step 5. Leave to infuse and cool, then strain the resulting broth using a colander, tea strainer or a piece of clean gauze. Do not forget to squeeze out the flowers themselves so that the maximum amount of tasty and healthy components gets into our delicacy.
Step 6. Pour all the sugar into the squeezed liquid, boil again and let simmer for 7 minutes under a lid and at the lowest heat.
Step 7. In principle, the dandelion jam is already ready, but if you want to get a thicker consistency, repeat the boiling procedure 1 - 2 times for 5 minutes.
Step 8. Pour the resulting mixture into sterile jars and roll up or simply cover with thick parchment paper. You need to store our dessert in a cool and dark place, and if you have not used lids, then in the refrigerator.

In order to prepare the correct jam, only freshly picked flowers are used together with sepals, but without stems and leaves. It is best to harvest the plant on a clear May afternoon, when the baskets are most open. And be sure to choose locations away from industrial sites and highways.

Dandelion Jam with Lemon

Our next recipe will be dandelion jam with lemon. With the addition of this citrus, natural sweetness not only acquires a pleasant sourness, but also turns out to be more useful, because the content of vitamin C in it increases significantly, saving us from many viral diseases and strengthening our immunity.

Ingredients:

400 ripe dandelion baskets;
medium-sized lemons - 1 - 2 pcs.;
sugar - at least 1 kg, a little more is possible;
clean water - 0.5 l.

The initial stage of making this version of jam is exactly the same as in the previous recipe - the flowers must be prepared, cleaned of dust and dirt, filled with water and allowed to brew for several hours. After that, add the lemon cut into large pieces along with the skin to the pan, boil it, turn off the heat and set aside under the lid until it cools. This time is necessary for the lemon to fully transfer all its taste and aroma to the broth. Then the contents must be filtered, sugar added and cooked like ordinary jam - over low heat, boiling to the desired degree of density.

If not a single lemon was found in your kitchen, and everything for dandelion jam has already been collected, you can safely use ordinary citric acid. For the amount indicated in the recipe, you will need half a teaspoon of food grade concentrated powder. Believe me, dandelion jam with citric acid will turn out to be no worse than using fresh fruits.

Dandelion Jam with Orange

The technology for making aromatic dandelion jam with orange is not too different from the method with the addition of lemon. But, there is one secret here, knowing that you will get an incomparable aroma that will attract all interested households to the kitchen even at the cooking stage. Do you want to know? Then prepare:

the main ingredient is prepared dandelion flowers, about one 3-liter jar;
ripe orange - 3 pieces;
juice of one lemon;
water - 1500 ml;
sugar - 1500 kg;
cardamom is our "secret", because when combined with the scent of citrus, this spice gives a unique, rich smell to any dish - 3 - 4 grains.

Water with dandelions, which has already been infused for at least 6 hours, put on fire and bring to a boil. In the meantime, I wash the orange and cut it, removing the seeds and veins. You do not need to remove the zest, it is enough to thoroughly wash it from the remnants of chemical preservatives used when transporting citrus fruits from southern countries.

The cardamom seeds need to be crushed with a knife, simply by pressing on them with a flat blade, or using a special mortar. You can use a whole pod, but only if you are making a larger amount of jam so that the spice smell does not overwhelm the rest of the flavors.

Add orange and spices to boiled flower water, boil for a couple of minutes, turn off and let it brew for 5 - 6 hours. It is convenient to start cooking in the evening to continue the process right in the morning.

The settled liquid must be filtered, covered with sugar and cooked in several passes. At the last stage, 10 minutes before turning off the heat, add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the thickened mass - you will immediately feel how "richer" the taste and aroma of your dessert will become.

Some housewives do not remove pieces of citrus from the workpiece, but boil with it until the orange pulp becomes soft. In this case, the finished jam becomes not so transparent, but this makes it no less tasty.

Dandelion jam without cooking

If your goal is to preserve the maximum of useful vitamins given to the dandelion by medicinal nature, then we advise you to prepare sweetness from it without using heat treatment.

There are two options for making dandelion jam without cooking, differing in the method of processing the raw materials and the set of ingredients.We will tell you about each of them.

The first way to jam without cooking

You will need:

prepared dandelion flowers, without stems and green parts - half a kilogram;
sugar - 750 - 800 g.

Cooking method:

Place clean dry inflorescences in a three-liter jar in layers, alternating with granulated sugar.
We tightly close the container with a lid and put it in a dry, dark place.
Mix the contents of the jar once a day.
After three days, the plant, under the influence of sugar, will release all the juice, it remains only to separate the liquid part and pour it into dry clean jars.

Jam prepared by this method should be stored exclusively in the refrigerator under nylon lids. It is not recommended to roll up a raw product for long-term storage.

The second method of jam without cooking

The products used in this recipe are not exactly proportioned. You can cook to your liking and the available number of components:

dandelion baskets;
fresh honey.

Cooking method:

Sort the flowers, remove insects, wash and dry thoroughly.
Grind the prepared raw materials using a blender or a special attachment of a food processor.
Place the flower mass in an opaque container. Better to use a clay or ceramic barrel with a lid.
Cover with honey, mix thoroughly.
Let it brew for 3 days.

Super vitamin dandelion jam without cooking with the addition of honey is ready!

Dandelion jam as a liver cure

Now that we know how to make dandelion jam, it must be said that this natural delicacy is not only able to diversify our table in the form of a dessert, but also serve as a real healer for many diseases of the body.

It is known that for medicinal purposes dandelion jam is used for anemia, to raise immunity, equalize blood pressure, but one of the most sensitive organ to plant components is our liver.

A couple of tablespoons of dandelion jam on an empty stomach can become a powerful biostimulant that will help liver cells to regenerate faster and recover from painful conditions.

For those who care about their health, we lay out a recipe for dandelion jam for treating the liver:

Finely chop 500 pieces of prepared inflorescences.
Wash and cut into wedges lemon.
Combine the ingredients in a container with a lid. Pour one liter of clean water. Ideally, you need to take well water, free of impurities and harmful substances. But, if you do not have this opportunity, use a clean, filtered liquid.
Place the container in a dark, cool and dry place to infuse for a day, stirring occasionally.
Over time, put the pan on the stove, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Make sure that the flowers and lemon do not burn to the bottom, stir them during cooking.
Add one kilogram of sugar to the broth and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and leave to cool completely.
After that, we carefully filter, discard the cake plants and lemon slices, and boil again for 5 - 7 minutes or until the desired consistency.
The jam resembles fresh flower honey in its appearance. You can close it in sterilized jars or start tasting right away.

People who have serious liver problems such as hepatitis or cirrhosis, of course, cannot rely on the magical properties of herbs and plants alone. It is necessary to take the prescribed therapy, eliminate alcohol and adhere to the principles of a healthy diet. And herbal medicine will be a good helper for you on the path to recovery.

As you can see, making dandelion jam according to our recipes is pretty easy. The key is to find clean, unpolluted places where many flowers can be collected.Let it be meadows, forest glades or river banks located far from city smog, because dandelions, like forest mushrooms, are able to absorb not only useful, but also harmful substances from the soil, rain or chemical emissions into the atmosphere. But, if you find such a place and have collected a large harvest of these solar baskets, be sure to use them to prepare a delicious, and most importantly, very healthy treat. It's so nice to spend family evenings with a cup of tea with fragrant dandelion jam.