Menu
  Du Jardin Beauty
  • Home
    • Workshops & Events
    • Spotlight
    • Reviews & Testimonials
  • Shop
    • Best-Sellers
    • Luxury Skincare
    • Herbal Haircare
    • Multi-Purpose Utility Soaps
    • eGift Cards
  • GIVING BACK
    • Wild & Locally Sourced
    • Charity: New Hope Midcoast
    • Fair-Trade Items
  • LEARN
  • About Us
    • FAQ's & Policies
    • Contact
    • Services
  • Wholesale
  • Home
    • Workshops & Events
    • Spotlight
    • Reviews & Testimonials
  • Shop
    • Best-Sellers
    • Luxury Skincare
    • Herbal Haircare
    • Multi-Purpose Utility Soaps
    • eGift Cards
  • GIVING BACK
    • Wild & Locally Sourced
    • Charity: New Hope Midcoast
    • Fair-Trade Items
  • LEARN
  • About Us
    • FAQ's & Policies
    • Contact
    • Services
  • Wholesale

Du Jardin Learning Center

Herbal Spotlight: Forsythia, Uses & Forsythia Vanilla-Bean Jelly

5/4/2020

1 Comment

 
PictureThis harbinger of Spring is a welcome sight after stark Winter.
The bright, sunny blossoms of the forsythia are a sure sign that Spring has arrived. They provide a welcome splash of color after the long winter, & a reliable food source for early emerging bees as well. While most people are familiar with this common neighborhood harbinger of Spring, many do not realize it is a powerful herbal ally. Widely used in Chinese medicine to treat inflammatory diseases & lung ailments such as pneumonia, flu, & bronchitis, forsythia is actually one of three key ingredients in a treatment, Shuang Huang Lian, being widely used in the Chinese COVID-19 outbreak. Forsythia is also excellent for treating boils & acne, along with tightness & redness of the skin. Furthermore, those beautiful blossoms are edible & make lovely syrups, honeys, & jellies, adding an enchanting, golden hue to each! Their flavor is unique, giving you equal parts floral & herbaceous with both sweet & slightly-bitter notes -- It tastes like sunshine!

Find Forsythia in these products

Wild Forsythia Cleansing Grains

Shop

Supportive Blue Tansy Velvet Day Balm

Shop

Wild Forsythia Facial Bars

Shop

Locally Foraged Forsythia Blossoms, Dried

Sold out

Shop
Picture
One particularly delicious way to enjoy forsythia is in the following jelly recipe, where I pair that sunshine-flavor with honey & vanilla. The resultant jelly is a beautiful, golden color accented with the tiny, black specks of vanilla seeds throughout that somehow makes me think of bees!  You can mix up the sweeteners for this if you choose: all honey, all sugar, or a combo of honey & sugar. Your cooking times will change depending on your choice, as honey jellies take longer to thicken. I love the way the honey compliments the flavor of the forsythia & think it is always a good idea to cut back on refined sugar when possible, so I tend to lean all honey  with mine.

Picture

​Hop on out & gather some blossoms to give it a go! As always, be sure to gather flowers only from shrubs you are sure have not been treated with pesticides.
Picking your flowers is super easy as they emerge first on the shrubs, so you can forage a bunch of flowers quickly without having to pick through & discard leaves after. I find gathering brings on an almost meditative state, & use it as an excuse to simply enjoy the return of nicer weather & pre-black fly season outdoors!


Be Sure To Check Out My Other Forsythia Post To Make Forsythia Syrup & Score Delicious Wild-Craft Cocktail & Zero-Proof Recipies!
Picture
Forsythia Syrup With Forsythia
Bee's Knees & Zero-Proof
​Recipes

Forsythia Vanilla-Bean Jelly​

  • 5-6 cups Forsythia blossoms 
  • 4 Cups Water
  • 3 TBS Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 3 Cups Honey [OR  2 c sugar + 1 c honey  OR  3 c sugar]
  • 1 or 2 Vanilla Beans
  • 1 Pouch Liquid Pectin [or 2 TBS powdered pectin]
PictureCleaned & ready to make our 'tea'
Sort your blossoms, taking care to remove any hitchhiking bugs; there is no need to remove their green bases, though some people do. Removing the bases will boost the floral aspect of the flavor, while leaving them gives the herbaceous/floral balance I mentioned earlier. Pop your flowers in a colander & give them a good rinse. Add your forsythia & 4 cups of water to a pot & bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.  You will notice the flowers begin to darken & lose their color to the liquid. Boil for 3-5 minutes, then ladle liquid-petals-&-all into a large mason jar. Allow to cool completely, then cap & set aside to steep overnight.

Picture
Strain off your liquid the next day with a fine strainer or cheesecloth. I usually double starin mine to ensure all plant material is removed. You can compost or toss out the petals at this point. You should have about 4 cups of dark yellow liquid. Prepare your jelly jars & have them at the ready.  Add 3 TBS fresh lemon juice & your pectin to your ‘forsythia tea’ in a heavy pot. 

PictureMy family is a bit vanilla obsessed, so I use 2 beans in my jelly.
Split your vanilla bean/s & scrape the seeds out, adding them to the mixture. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once at full boil, add the honey/sugar/combo, stir to combine until fully dissolved. Bring this mixture back to a full, rolling boil & cook until glossy & thick:  all honey: about 15-20 minutes, half honey-half sugar: 10-15 minutes or so, all sugar: about 5-10 minutes. Ladle the jelly into jars leaving ¼” head space & set aside to cool completely or process for 10 minutes in a canner water bath if you intend to store it --
And there you have it!  Forsythia Vanilla-Bean Jelly!

Picture
My 'all honey' jelly shown here is a darker gold, while a 'sugar' jelly will give you a brighter shade of yellow.
Enjoy it with chevre on crusty bread [& sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts if you are feeling sassy] or use it to top pancakes, waffles, & vanilla ice cream. 
Or just eat it with toast & butter, you know, no judgement.
Let its sunshine-flavor bring a smile to your face.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Get out there & grab some blossoms before they fade for the year-- & please share with us what you do with them! I love to see what creative things you all get up to with the flowers! Forsythia is an important skincare ally, so it is no suprise you'll find her in our best-selling Wild Forsythia Cleansing Grains & our Forsythia Facial Bars, & we always have dried blossoms available for teas & steams here in store too!  Until next time--Take time to #StopAndEatTheFlowers !
1 Comment
Caitlin Daniels link
5/29/2022 04:06:45 am

Hi, nice reading your post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Events
    Homesteading Tips
    Informational
    Ingredient Spotlight
    New Products
    Pet Care
    Recipes & Ingredients
    Soaps


    Picture
    Beautiful AND Responsible

      Sign Up Here For Our Newsletter

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Picture
    Meet the Centuries-Old, French Cleaning Classic ​with A Modern Twist

    Author

    My husband & I were blessed with 2 beautiful girls. When I was diagnosed with MS, I couldn't keep up the pace working retail. We decided on a simpler life, built a cabin in the woods, & moved to mid-coast Maine ​


    Picture
    Treat Yourself To Our Amazing, Handcrafted Extracts

    Archives

    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    November 2022
    October 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019

    Picture
    Discover Luxury Herbal Skincare For All Skin Types
    Picture
    Our Multi-Purpose Utility Soaps Are Our Best Sellers For A Reason! Find Out For Yourself!
Always Free of Phthalates, Parabens, Formaldehyde-Releasers, Petro-chemicals & Sulfates.
Store Hours:
Wednesday 11 am - 4 pm
​Thursday 11 am - 4 pm
​Friday  10 am - 4 pm
Saturday 11 am - 3 pm
Damariscotta Farmers Market:​
May 16 - Oct 31 2025

Interested In Being A Stockist?
 Click Here for Wholesale Info
contact us:

    Sign Up For Our Newsletter:  Recipes,
    Special Events, Promo Codes

Subscribe to Newsletter

207-563-6256      [email protected]       © Du Jardin 2019 

127 Elm Street  Suite #2 -  Damariscotta, Maine 04543