We may not be harvesting tomatoes or corn or green beans, but Alaska has its own harvest. Right now the wild huckleberries are starting, and we have a lot of ripe watermelon berries along our lane. The cranberries will be ripening in about a month and the fireweed is in full swing.
Fireweed got its name because it is one of the first things to grow after a forest fire. It grows prolifically along the road and we have a lot in our meadow and along the lane. It is a beautiful purple color and makes awesome jelly that tastes quite a bit like grape jelly.
The fun part about making fireweed jelly is that it actually requires you to go out and pick a bunch of flowers. I love picking flowers and I think it’s pretty wonderful to put “pick armfuls of beautiful flowers” on my to-do list.
Watermelon berries in a patch of Fireweed.
Low bush cranberries
How to make Fireweed Jelly
Pick off enough fireweed blossoms to make around eight cups. Put in a sauce pan with 2-3 cups of water. Boil until all the color is gone from the petals and then strain the juice into a container. The juice will be dark purple.
Put 2 1/2 cups of fireweed juice in a pan.
Add 1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
Add 1 1.75 oz box Surejell and bring to a rolling boil.
Boil one minute.
Add 3 cups sugar and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly.
Boil one minute.
Remove from heat and pour into jars. Put lids and rings on and water bath ten minutes.
I’ve never heard of the likes of fireweed jelly. Wow! There’s so much variety in this good old earth.