Week 8 of The 100 Day Project 2023, Trees, and a Recipe

I'm pretty sure a couple of these are easy to decipher but good luck with 51 and 56.  

A view of the backyard from last weekend.....

And yesterday - saying goodbye to that big dead tree that had us worried.

I found out recently that those beautiful redbud trees are forageable.  The blossoms, leaves, and seed pods are all edible.  This came to my attention when I saw a post somewhere about making redbud jelly with the blossoms.  It was quite timely to see that as our trees burst into blossom last Friday and the procedure wasn't too complicated, I just needed to get Pectin and the right size jars.  

Picking the blossoms off the tree(s) doesn't take long, but I found that you need to pick what looks to be twice the quantity needed to get what's needed for the recipe because they grow in bunches and you need to pinch off the stems.  They say the stems can make them bitter, so I complied and pinched away.  I think that step took the longest time.  I needed a cup of blossoms.

Then I boiled them in 2 cups of water for 3 minutes.  See how the heat takes the color away as soon as they hit the water.

This "tea" is then strained and 3/4 cup of it, together with 3 tsp. pectin, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, and 2 drops of vanilla go back into the pot, stirred, and brought to a boil.  Then add 1 1/2 cups sugar and boil low/medium for 3 minutes.  You then pour the boiled liquid into clean 4 oz. jars, wipe the rims, and seal.  This is a refrigerator version, so it will only keep in the refrigerator for two weeks.  It can be canned for longer storage, but I opted not to do that this time as I didn't know how good it would taste.

Not quite as magenta as the trees, but pretty still.

It tastes a little like cotton candy with citrus and floral notes.  You know it would be sweet with all the sugar, but it really isn't too sweet, and it is flavorful.

I tried mine on an English muffin with a schmeer of cream cheese.  You could use this at a party over a small block of softened cream cheese using mini pretzels to "dip" into if you like that sweet and salty balance.  

They say you should pick the blossoms before they start wilting on the tree for optimum flavor.  After the first step, I still have enough "tea" left that I might freeze for another batch at a later date.

  The redbud has always been a favorite tree for me, not just because of the beautiful magenta blossoms, but the leaves are heart-shaped which I love.  There was a tree like this in the yard where I grew up, planted by my grandparents.  It is also sometimes called the "Judas" tree as it is said that that's the tree that Judas hung himself from when he betrayed Jesus.  They say the blossoms turned from white to red because of that.  We have had these trees for years in our yard and we get lots of small seedlings sprouting up everywhere from the seed pods.  Some of them we've replanted or given away.  I never knew that they had this edible property.