Kudzu Blossom Jelly

Separate the flowers from the stem as you only want the purple blooms. Wash the blossoms in cold water, place them in a large bowl, and pour the boiling water over the blossoms. Refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours. Pour blossoms and liquid through a colander or sieve in to a large cook pot, discarding blossoms. The juice that is left over is a grayish color but when you add the lemon juice will turn deep maroon. Add lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar and return to a full rolling boil that can't be stirred down, stirring constantly. Boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim off foam and quickly pour jelly into hot, sterilized jars, filling them to 1/4" of the top. Wipe jar rims, cover with canning lids and screw on bands. Process in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Cool. This recipe should make 6 half pints. Due to the low acid content of these blossoms I've used the following rebatch method. I usually rebatch two batches of the jelly at once as it works pretty well. Jelly too soft: When recooking and using powdered pectin, for each QUART of soft jelly or jam, measure 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and 4 teaspoons of powdered pectin. Mix the pectin and water together and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the soft jelly/jam and sugar. Stir thoroughly. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil mixture hard for 1/2 minute. Remove from heat, skim, pour into clean, hot containers and seal using new lids. Note: I use two batches of the kudzu jelly and double the "rebatch recipe", using a whole box of powdered pectin. The resulting jelly is a firm jelly. If you like a little softer jelly, cut back on the pectin.