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Apple blossom jelly captures the sweet, floral scent of spring fruit trees in a soft jelly you can keep on the shelf year-round. The same recipe works for crabapple, cherry, pear, peach, or plum blossoms, so you can put up whatever happens to be blooming in the yard.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- What Does Apple Blossom Jelly Taste Like?
- Choosing and Harvesting Apple Blossoms
- Ingredients for Apple Blossom Jelly
- Low Sugar Options
- How to Make Apple Blossom Jelly
- Canning Apple Blossom Jelly
- Altitude Adjustments
- Ways to Use Apple Blossom Jelly
- Apple Blossom Jelly FAQs
- Flower Jelly Recipes
- Apple Blossom Jelly Recipe
- Jelly Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Each year, I try my hand at a new flower jelly or two to bottle up the taste of spring on the pantry shelf. There’s not much like fresh, sweet spring flowers on a warm biscuit in the middle of a cold January, a small reminder that spring will come around again.
What makes this one handy is that it isn’t fussy about which tree you use. Apple, crabapple, pear, cherry, peach, and plum blossoms all work with the same method, so it slots right in alongside other flower jellies. If you keep the trees separate, you’ll even taste the differences between them.
Notes from My Kitchen
We have a fragrant crabapple right outside the front door, and its scent fills the whole yard for a week or two in early May. For years, I meant to turn that into jelly and somehow missed the window every spring, since the bloom is short and there’s always too much going on.
The year I finally caught it, I made a few batches, one from the red-flowered crab, a couple from other apple trees in the yard, and even one from a cherry tree, keeping them separate to taste the difference. My daughter turned out to be a reliable blossom-picking helper, and now it’s on the list every spring.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Apple Blossom Jelly
- Recipe Type: Flower Jelly Recipe
- Canning Method: Water Bath Canning
- Prep/Cook Time: 30 Minutes (including steeping)
- Canning Time: 10 Minutes
- Yield: 5 to 6 half-pint jars
- Jar Sizes: Quarter Pint, Half Pint, or Pint
- Headspace: 1/4 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Apple blossoms, water, lemon juice, sugar, and pectin
- Difficulty: Easy! You’re basically making a floral tea and setting it with pectin.
- Similar Recipes: The process is very similar to other springtime floral jellies, including Tulip Jelly, Redbud Jelly, and Lilac Jelly. If you grow fruit trees, you might also like Crabapple Jelly made from the fruit later in the season.
What Does Apple Blossom Jelly Taste Like?
Apple blossom jelly tastes more or less the way apple blossoms smell: floral and light, with just a hint of fresh fruit underneath. The exact flavor depends on the variety of apple (or cherry, or pear) you’re working with, since each has its own fragrance, so harvest at peak scent for the most flavor.
The color shifts with the blossom, too, and that carries into the flavor. The pigments in the petals are the same family of compounds that give blueberries and raspberries their taste, so depending on how deep-colored your flowers are, the finished jelly can pick up a faint berry note alongside the floral one.
I made the apple blossom jelly, and it came out great. I’m new to this, and your recipe made it so easy!
Choosing and Harvesting Apple Blossoms
The first question most people ask is whether picking blossoms means fewer apples, and the answer is no. Fruit trees set far more flowers than they can ever bear fruit. Orchards count on only about one in five to one in ten blossoms setting fruit, and then thin out most of the tiny fruits in early summer anyway. Taking a few flowers from each cluster, or a few handfuls off a flowering crab, is a drop in the bucket.
Apple, crabapple, and pear blossoms all work here, and so do stone-fruit blossoms like cherry, plum, peach, and apricot. Whichever tree you use, take only the blossoms and leave the leaves, twigs, and woody parts behind. That’s good practice with any fruit tree, and it matters a bit more with the stone fruits, whose leaves and twigs contain natural cyanide-forming compounds you don’t want in your tea. Harvest from trees you know haven’t been sprayed.
For a special batch, keep the flowers from different trees separate so you can taste and see the differences between them. Or just mix everything together for a “house blend” from your own yard. Either way, plan to use the blossoms the same day, since they’re at their most fragrant fresh.
Ingredients for Apple Blossom Jelly
Apple blossom jelly uses the same basic formula as other flower jellies: fresh blossoms steeped into a tea, then set with sugar, pectin, and a bit of lemon juice for balance and safety.
- Apple Blossoms: Use just the blossoms (apple, crabapple, pear, or stone-fruit), gathered from unsprayed trees, with the leaves and twigs left off. Their scent and color set the flavor and look of the finished jelly.
- Water: Use clean filtered water if your tap has a strong chlorine taste, since that can muddy the delicate floral flavor.
- Lemon Juice: The lemon juice balances the sweetness and adds a bit of tart contrast to bring out the flowers. It also lowers the pH, which helps the pectin set and makes the jelly safe for canning. Use bottled lemon juice, which holds a steady acidity that fresh lemons don’t. For a more neutral flavor you can swap in citric acid powder at about 1 teaspoon in place of the 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
- Sugar: Regular powdered pectin needs a good amount of sugar to gel, so this recipe follows the current Sure Jell ratio of 5 cups sugar to 4 cups of blossom tea for an old-fashioned jelly that sets dependably. If you’d rather cut the sugar back, there’s a lower-sugar option in the note just below.
- Pectin: This recipe is built around regular powdered pectin, such as Sure Jell, which is reliable and gives a consistent set.
Low Sugar Options
If you’d prefer a less sweet jelly, reach for Sure Jell low sugar pectin instead and drop the sugar to as little as 1 to 2 cups. With Pomona’s Universal Pectin, bump the lemon juice up to 1/2 cup, since Pomona’s doesn’t include the added citric acid that most other pectins do.
Pomona’s is a 2-part low-sugar pectin that comes with calcium water and behaves a little differently, so follow the mint jelly directions on the box. If it’s your first time using it, it’s worth reading through how to use Pomona’s pectin first.
How to Make Apple Blossom Jelly
Making jelly from apple blossoms runs like any other flower jelly. You steep the blossoms into a tea, set it with pectin and sugar, and add lemon juice along the way. Don’t skip that lemon, since it balances the sweetness, helps the set, and lowers the pH enough to keep the jelly safe on the shelf, so it goes in even if you’re not canning.
Most of the time here is hands-off while the blossoms steep, so have your jars and lids ready before you start. That way, you can move quickly once the jelly comes up to its boil.
Prepare the Blossoms
You’ll need 2 to 4 cups of fresh blossoms, pulled free of any stems, leaves, or twigs. I like to pick them straight into a quart jar, since it holds about the right amount for the next step.
If you want two different jellies, you can split the work into half-batches of 2 cups of blossoms each, using half a box of pectin (about 3 Tablespoons) per batch. That’s a nice way to compare two trees side by side.
Make the Blossom Tea
Pour 4 cups of boiling water over the blossoms and let them steep for 15 to 20 minutes. The water will take on the color and fragrance of the flowers.
Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer into a jelly pot, pressing gently on the blossoms. You’re aiming for about 4 cups of tea. If you come up short, top it off with water to bring it back to 4 cups.
Add Lemon Juice and Pectin
Stir 1/4 cup of lemon juice into the blossom tea. (The lemon balances the sweetness, helps the pectin set, and makes the jelly safe to can, so don’t leave it out even if these are headed for the fridge.) Bring the mixture up to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once it’s boiling, whisk in one box of powdered pectin until it’s completely dissolved, and let it boil hard for 1 full minute. The pectin goes in before the sugar, which is what lets the jelly set, so hold that order.
Add the Sugar
After that minute, add 5 cups of sugar all at once. (Do not add the sugar before or at the same time as the pectin, or the jelly won’t set up.) Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Bring the jelly back to a full rolling boil for exactly 1 minute, then pull it off the heat and skim away any foam with a spoon. Immediately ladle the hot jelly into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Canning Apple Blossom Jelly
Canning is optional. If you’d rather not, let the jars cool completely on the counter and tuck them into the refrigerator for a few weeks, or the freezer for up to 6 months in freezer-safe jars.
For shelf storage, I like to run the jars through a water bath canner so the jelly keeps at room temperature year-round. Make sure you’ve used the full amount of lemon juice, since that acidity is what makes water bath canning safe. Have your canner, jars, and lids prepped before you start the jelly. After ladling into jars (leaving 1/4 inch headspace), wipe the rims with a clean, damp cloth, set the lids, and tighten the bands to fingertip tight.
Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed. Let the jars cool undisturbed on a towel for 24 hours, then check the seals. Refrigerate any that didn’t seal and use them first. Properly canned and sealed jars will maintain quality on the pantry shelf for 12 to 18 months. Refrigerate after opening.
Altitude Adjustments
For water bath canning, processing times increase at higher elevations:
- 0 to 6,000 feet: 10 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: 15 minutes
Ways to Use Apple Blossom Jelly
Apple blossom jelly is a soft, floral spread for warm biscuits, toast, and scones, and it’s the kind of thing that brings a little spring back to a January breakfast. It’s also nice spooned into yogurt or set out alongside a mild cheese, where its light flavor holds its own without taking over.
It takes well to a few additions if you want to play with it. Muddling in a handful of raspberries or blackberries plays up the berry note and deepens the color, and a few other edible petals can shift the flavor: dandelion for a honeyed note, violet for more berry and a magenta tint, or lilac for a stronger floral edge. A row of jars from different trees also makes a thoughtful spring gift.
Apple Blossom Jelly FAQs
No. Fruit trees set far more flowers than they can carry to fruit, and orchards count on only about one in five to one in ten blossoms setting fruit before thinning most of the tiny fruits anyway. Taking a few flowers from each cluster, or a few handfuls off a flowering crabapple, won’t make a noticeable dent in your crop.
Yes. The recipe works with apple, crabapple, pear, cherry, plum, peach, and apricot blossoms, and each tree gives a slightly different flavor and color. Use only the blossoms, never the leaves or twigs, which matters especially with stone fruits like cherry, plum, peach, and apricot, since their foliage and wood contain natural cyanide-forming compounds. Always harvest from unsprayed trees.
The most common reasons jelly doesn’t set are adding the sugar at the same time as the pectin (add pectin first and boil for 1 minute before adding sugar), boiling the finished jelly for too long (over 5 minutes), or trying to double the batch size. If it doesn’t set after 24-48 hours, enjoy it as a floral syrup or read through my guide on troubleshooting jelly set.
Yes, but you’ll need to use a low-sugar pectin like Sure-Jell Low Sugar or Pomona’s Universal Pectin and follow the package instructions for mint jelly. If you use Pomona’s, increase the lemon juice to 1/2 cup, since it doesn’t contain the added citric acid that other pectins do. The yield will be lower with reduced sugar.
Flower Jelly Recipes
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Apple Blossom Jelly
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
For the Blossom Tea
- 4 cups fresh apple blossoms, or crabapple, pear, cherry, plum, peach
- 4 cups water
For the Jelly
- 4 cups blossom tea, strained
- 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice, or 1 teaspoon citric acid
- 1 box powdered pectin, 1.75 oz, regular, such as Sure-Jell original or 6 Tbsp Bulk Pectin
- 5 cups granulated sugar, See notes for low sugar option
Instructions
- Separate the blossoms from their stems, using only the flowers (no leaves or twigs).
- Pour the boiling water over the blossoms and let the tea steep for 15 to 20 minutes, then strain into a jam pot. Measure the tea and add water if needed to reach the full amount.
- Stir in the lemon juice. It balances the sugar, helps the pectin set, and adds the acidity needed to safely can the jelly, so don’t skip it.
- Bring to a boil, then whisk in the powdered pectin until dissolved and boil hard for 1 full minute. (Do not add the sugar at the same time as the pectin, or before it, or the jelly won’t set.)
- Add all the sugar at once and stir to dissolve. Return to a full rolling boil and boil hard for exactly 1 minute, then remove from heat and skim off any foam.
- Ladle hot jelly into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims clean, center lids, and apply bands fingertip-tight.
- Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off the heat and let jars rest 5 minutes before removing. Cool undisturbed 12-24 hours before checking seals. Or, to skip canning, cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to a month or the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Jelly Canning Recipes
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Do you pack the blossoms down in the container when you collect them? I have a crab apple tree and it gets thousands of blooms – at least it seems that way when I have to clean them up 😉
Lightly packed, but not really thoroughly mashed.
Of all the flower jellies we make, this one’s my daughter’s favorite. It’s the yardstick by which she compares all the other flower jellies, and more often than not, she’ll say, “This one’s good, but it’s not quite as good as the apple blossom jelly.”
Ohmygawd thank you so much for this recipe!! I made the apple blossom one using 1 cup sugar and two boxes sure jell low sugar pectin and it came out great! I’m curious if this recipe would work with clover blossoms? I’m new to this and your recipe makes it so easy. I also canned the apple blossom jelly. Thank you for your time, Sharon
Yup, you can definitely make this same recipe with clover blossoms. (Our clover is just starting to appear, and I’m planning on a batch myself this year.) Enjoy!
This can be used with pear tree blossom too right? If so what is that flavor similar to?
Yes, you can use pear blossom. Make a tea with a few of the blossoms and sweeten it, that’ll give you some idea as to the taste. Each variety of pear will taste slightly different.