Red Buds and Violets

It's spring here in OK and the woods are filled with colorful flowers.

Like these violets.

And these red buds.

They are beautiful, but did you know they're also edible?

My mother in love found a recipe to make red bud jelly.  So we did.  And it was wonderful.  It tastes like a cross between an apple and a plum.

And then we started thinking about some of the other edible flowers and realized our woods are full of violets.  So we decided to try violet jelly.

First we had to soak the flowers.

Then we worked our jelly making magic (ok, we followed the directions on the pectin box).  And ended up with another beautifully colored jelly that tastes like honey.

And we made another batch of red bud while we were at it =)

And we may or may not be using the *extra* liquid to make violet wine ;)

What type of jellies do you like?  Do you make your own?