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One of the first tasks we had to undertake on our land was to cut up some large Black Locust trees that had to be taken down as we began building our driveway. These trees, while native to the Ozark Mountains, are known for being invasive, damaging trees. They have horrific thorns that carry a toxin on them so that if you dare get scratched even a tiny bit, it burns for hours and days. These same thorns can lay in wait in the pasture for you to step on them, resulting in a trip for a tetanus shot, or can be so lucky as to drive your truck or tractor over them, puncturing a tire. The wood is also some of the hardest wood in North America, frustrating even the most experienced of lumberjacks.
It would be easy to say that we quickly grew to hate these trees. And that is exactly what happened, in the beginning. Then one day I was driving down the road with my windows down and I noticed these trees with beautiful pink and white little flowers that had the most amazing fragrance. Later that same week, I realized those same blooms were present on our despised Locust trees. I was absolutely smitten with the flowers and their sweet fragrance. So, I looked online to see what they could be used for. I found that they are used in jelly, wine, simple syrups, and they are also battered and fried up like fritters.
I decided to start with a jelly. It seemed simple, it stores easily, and is pretty quick and easy to make. What did I have to lose? Just a few hours of my time. It was worth every minute. The result was amazing and the next year, I made four times as much jelly as well as a simple syrup (that was great in summer cocktails) and a Black Locust wine that was ready to drink just in time for Thanksgiving. I can honestly say that this very jelly saved the lives of many of the young Black Locust trees on our property. Prior to discovering my love of the blossoms, we had plans to take out an entire grove of small trees behind the house, but they are still short and easy to gather blossoms from so we have decided to keep them after all, for collecting every spring to make our delicious jelly.
As soon as the trees start blooming I collect the flowers. They are really easy to pull off of the branches - I just grab at the top of the flower and apply pressure to the green stem as I pull in a downwards motion, popping all the little flowers off and catching them in a bucket. The flowers are most fragrant before they open and when it is still early in the day, so I try to gather them every morning while they are in bloom. I keep them in a ziplock in the fridge until I have enough to make a batch of jelly from.
The following recipe makes about ten 4-oz jelly jars
Ingredients:
4 cups of tightly packed black locust flowers
3 cups boiling water
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1 box Sure-Jel pectin
4 cups sugar
Instructions:
1. Pour the 3 cups of boiling water over the locust flowers into a large container and cover. Let this steep, covered, overnight (between 6-12 hours). Then, strain the flowers out to produce a flower-infused water. I pour the flowers through a mesh sieve into a large saucepan. I line the seive with a cloth towel or several layes of cheesecloth to catch the pollen that settles out into the liquid. I pour as much of the liquid out and then press the flowers into the sieve in several batches to squeeze as much liquid out as I can. I like to use every last drop of goodness from the flowers.
2. Take this infusion and add the lemon juice and pectin to the saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Once it is boiling, add the sugar all at once and then stir constantly until the mixture returns to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute.
4. Remove the jelly from the heat and ladle into clean glass jelly jars. We use 4 ounce jars, but you could also use larger jars as well. The 4 ounce jars seem a good size for gifting the jelly to friends and family.
Once we have the jelly in jars, we water bath can them so they will be shelf-stable. This makes a beautiful shiny, light pink jelly that tastes amazing on toast or biscuits with breakfast in the morning. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
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