Harvest roughly 8 cups of dandelion flower heads. Carefully remove just the yellow petals, discarding the green portions. You should have roughly 4 cups petals (not packed) or 2 cups petals (packed).
Make a dandelion petal tea by pouring 4 cups boiling water over the cleaned flower petals. Allow the tea to steep for at least an hour, but as long as 24 hours.
After steeping, strain the petals, ringing them out to get every last bit of liquid. Measure the liquid, you should have 3 3/4 to 4 cups of dandelion tea.
Pour the dandelion tea into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add lemon juice and pectin, and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. (Note: Do not add sugar yet.)
Once the mixture is rapidly boiling, add the sugar and stir to combine.
Allow the mixture to return to a hard boil, and boil 1-2 minutes before removing from heat.
Pour the jelly into prepared jars, seal and allow the jelly to cool and set for at least 12 hours. (Sometimes jelly takes as long as 48 hours to fully set, be patient.) Store in the refrigerator.
Canning Dandelion Jelly (optional):
Prepare a water bath canner before you begin cooking the jelly. Be aware that the lemon juice or citric acid is required for safe canning.
Prepare the jelly, and then pour into canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes before removing to a towel on the counter to cool completely.
Check seals after 24 hours and store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use. Properly canned and sealed jars will last in the pantry for 12-18 months.
Notes
This basic dandelion jelly recipe uses Sure-Jell pectin, but you can use any type of pectin you happen to have available. Be sure to follow the directions on the package, as some require adding the pectin at different times in the process.Pomona's Universal Pectin - For a low sugar dandelion jelly, add 1/2 to 3 cups of sugar. Use 4 tsp. pomona's pectin powder and 4 tsp calcium water (included in the pectin package). Follow instructions on the box for when and how to add the pectin.Certo Liquid Pectin ~ This is also an option, but be aware liquid pectin requires quite a bit more sugar to gel properly. For this recipe using 4 cups of dandelion tea you'll need to add 7 cups of sugar and 2 pouches liquid pectin (one full box).