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Black locust flower jelly turns the sweet, short-lived blooms of the black locust tree into a soft pink jelly that tastes surprisingly like fresh strawberries. The trees flower for only a week or two each spring, so it’s a fun way to catch that fragrance while it lasts.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- What Does Black Locust Jelly Taste Like?
- Identifying and Harvesting Black Locust Flowers
- Ingredients for Black Locust Flower Jelly
- Low Sugar Options
- How to Make Black Locust Jelly
- Canning Black Locust Jelly
- Altitude Adjustments
- Ways to Use Black Locust Jelly
- Black Locust Jelly FAQs
- Flower Jelly Recipes
- Black Locust Flower 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.
We have quite a few black locust trees on our land, and for a week or two each spring, they’re covered in bloom. The bees work them from top to bottom, and the whole yard fills with their sweet perfume. The flowers are edible, so they find their way into salads while they last.
I’m always looking for another way to use them before that short bloom is over, and this jelly has become one of them. It runs like other flower jellies, steeping the blossoms into a tea and setting it with pectin and sugar, but the strawberry flavor that turns up at the end is a surprise every time.
Notes from My Kitchen
The black locust bloom is one of the markers of late spring around here. For those couple of weeks, the bees are all over the trees, and the air is heavy with that sweet scent, and then almost as quickly it’s gone for another year. Putting up a few jars is how I hang onto it a little longer.
The part that still gets me is the moment the lemon juice goes in. The tea sits there nearly clear, and then it flips to bright pink and tastes of strawberries out of nowhere. I’ve made it enough times to know it’s coming, and it’s still a small thrill every spring.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Black Locust Flower 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: Black locust flowers, 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 wild-foraged spring flower jellies, including Dandelion Jelly, Redbud Jelly, and Violet Jelly. If you forage often, it’s worth browsing the whole list of flower jelly recipes.
What Does Black Locust Jelly Taste Like?
Black locust jelly tastes surprisingly like fresh strawberries, which catches most people off guard. The raw flowers smell sweet and faintly pea-like, and eaten fresh they even taste a bit like snap peas, but none of that vegetal quality carries into the finished jelly. What you get instead is a soft, strawberry-ish sweetness that seems to come from nowhere.
The color is part of the same trick. The steeped tea comes out nearly clear with a faint green-yellow cast, and the moment the lemon juice hits it, it turns bright pink. It’s the antioxidants in the flowers reacting to the acid, the same change you see when making violet jelly, so it looks like magic, but it’s really just chemistry.
Identifying and Harvesting Black Locust Flowers
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is easy to spot in bloom, hung with long, trailing clusters of white pea-like flowers that look a bit like garden pea or snapdragon blossoms. It’s a legume and fixes nitrogen the way peas and beans do, and its leaves are long strings of paired leaflets running down a central stem. Watch for thorns, which come off the bark and branches and can be sharp.
Only the flowers are edible. The rest of the black locust tree, including the leaves, bark, twigs, seed pods, and seeds, are not considered edible and should never be eaten, so use the blossoms only and keep everything else out of your basket. Be sure of your identification before you harvest, and gather only from trees you know haven’t been sprayed.
The flowers are easy to gather by pulling whole clusters off the tree, minding the thorns, which are worst on the younger, shorter trees you can actually reach. They bloom so heavily that you can fill a basket in a few minutes and still leave most of them for the bees. Back home, strip the individual flowers from the stems, leaving the green sepals on since they don’t affect the flavor, and pick out any leaf or woody bits that came along.
Ingredients for Black Locust Flower Jelly
Black locust 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.
- Black Locust Flowers: Use the flowers only, since the rest of the tree is not edible, gathered from unsprayed trees you’ve identified with confidence. The green sepals are fine to leave on; just keep out any leaves, twigs, or pods.
- 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 does a lot of work here. It turns the pale tea bright pink and brings out the strawberry flavor, balances the sweetness, helps the pectin set, and lowers the pH enough to make 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 locust 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 Black Locust Jelly
Making black locust jelly 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, brings out the strawberry flavor, 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 to a boil.
Prepare the Flowers
Strip about 4 cups of black locust flowers from their stems. You can leave the green sepals on, since they don’t affect the flavor, but pull out any leaf, twig, or woody bits that came along with the clusters.
Since black locust blooms so heavily, gathering enough is quick work. Plan to use the flowers the same day, since they’re at their most fragrant fresh.
Make the Locust Tea
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and pour it over the flowers. Let them steep for about 15 minutes. The tea will taste mildly vegetal and herbal at this stage, nothing like the finished jelly, and it’ll be mostly clear with maybe a faint green-yellow tint.
Strain the tea through a fine mesh strainer into a jelly pot, pressing gently on the flowers. You’re aiming for about 4 cups. 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 tea, and watch the pale liquid turn bright pink as the strawberry flavor appears. (Along with the color and flavor, the lemon balances the sugar, 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 Black Locust 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 and I can enjoy that strawberry flavor in the winter months. 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 Black Locust Jelly
That surprise strawberry flavor makes black locust jelly a natural on toast, biscuits, scones, and croissants, and it’s nice spooned over pancakes or stirred into plain yogurt. Its color and unexpected flavor also make it a standout on a cheese board, and a few jars make a good gift since most people have never tasted anything like it.
Jelly is just one way to use the bloom, too. While the flowers are in season, you can toss them fresh into salads, fry whole clusters into fritters, or simmer them into a floral syrup or sorbet. Just remember to use the blossoms only, never the rest of the plant.
Black Locust Jelly FAQs
The flowers are edible, and they’re the only part of the black locust tree that is. The leaves, bark, twigs, seed pods, and seeds are not edible and should never be eaten, so use only the blossoms. Be sure of your identification before harvesting, and gather only from trees that haven’t been sprayed.
That’s normal. The steeped tea comes out nearly clear with a faint green-yellow tint, and it turns bright pink the moment the lemon juice goes in. The acid reacts with antioxidants in the flowers to change both the color and the flavor, which is where the strawberry note comes from.
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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Black Locust Flower Jelly
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
For the Locust Tea
- 4 cups fresh black locust flowers, removed from stems
- 4 cups water
For the Jelly
- 4 cups black locust 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
- Strip the black locust flowers from their stems, leaving the green sepals on but removing any leaves, twigs, or woody bits.
- Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the flowers. Steep about 15 minutes, then strain into a jam pot. The tea will be mostly clear at this stage. Measure it and add water if needed to reach the full amount.
- Stir in the lemon juice and watch the tea turn bright pink. It balances the sugar, brings out the flavor, 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.
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This is one I look forward to every spring. The bloom only lasts a week or two, but a few jars carry that black locust scent right through winter. The strawberry flavor still surprises people every time I hand them a jar, and watching the pale tea flip to pink when the lemon goes in never gets old. If you’ve got locust trees nearby, it’s well worth catching the flowers while they’re open.
Okay I found the recipe at the bottom. It worked okay except the low sugar pectin clumped up when I put it in the boiling tea and the jelly wasn’t clear. I think putting the pectin in while the tea is cool and bringing it up to a boil might work better.
Pomona’s pectin does clump unless you whisk it into the sugar. The instructions for that pectin are different (calcium water, etc) and it’s a different order of operations. That pectin works completely differently, and you need to follow the instructions on the box for that one. All other major brands of low sugar pectin are designed to dissolve straight in boiling liquid (Sure Jel, Mrs. Wages, etc). You should be able to whisk it right in without lumps. The reason you add it when it’s already hot is that cooking the pectin too long can cause it to fail to set, so you generally bring the liquid up to a boil first so you’re not heating the pectin all that time.
Hey Ashley ! I appreciate your recipe . I didn’t seem to get a chance in color with my black locust jelly and I had a nice infusion with many many flowers it was a golden yellow color and I added the lemon juice and it didn’t react .
I’ve done it with violet flowers with great results .
Hmmm, I wonder why? That’s a strange one. I guess with wild trees some maybe have the right color/flavor compounds and other’s dont?
Have you ever made the ‘tea’ a day or 2 before you turned it into jelly and kept it in the refrigerator? I’m hoping to do this with kids as a 4-H project and don’t know if I can get it done that morning before they get here….
Yup! You can make the tea as much as 2-3 days ahead of time and just keep it in the refrigerator. More than 2-3 days and it’ll taste off (at least in my experience), but it does well for that short period provided it’s kept cold. Enjoy!