The name for this blog, Dandelion Jelly, was not so much a blast of creative inspiration, but rather born of the repeated denials from the Blogger server for every other name I tried. "Cecilly"–taken. "Random Thoughts"–taken. "Onomatopoeia"–taken. You get the idea. I tried to think of something unique, something associated with my family or heritage...and finally I mused upon a favorite treat from our childhood: dandelion jelly.
My mom used to pack us up and we'd go to the park, where a large field of dandelions popped up each spring and summer. (I'm hoping) this was in a time before the wide use of pesticides, and we used to wander through the grass with our buckets and pop the heads off of flower after flower until our fingers were stained a bright yellow. Mom would take our spoils and transform them into the most delicious jelly I've ever tasted. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this delicacy until my cousin Drew recently gave me a small jar of dandelion jelly that she made and canned during one of her stays at the family's house in Canada. It was just as delicious as I remember. I secretly hope when I'm all grown up that I'll have a big grassy backyard where I let these beautiful weeds go wild, and my kids and I can make batches and batches of sticky yellow dandelion jelly.
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