I wake up to gloom and drizzle this morning , a view that would usually make me feel like dodge back underneath the covers to hole up . ( I ca n’t , of course of action , because the animals will be demanding their breakfast . ) But today is different because a gloomy , drizzly day is utter for staying indoors to make herbal jellies , and that ’s on the nose what I have contrive : a long - delinquent jelly day with my gay booster and jelly buddy , Linda .
This has been our nestling - are - back - to - school custom for about four class now — conglomerate handfuls of fragrant herbs from my garden before they shrivel by and turning them into jewel - like jelly to share with family and friends , plus savor ourselves as angelic reminders of summertime past tense . Linda , my jelly mentor , taught me the basics of piddle - bath canning , and I ’m always a piffling in awe of her because she ’s fiendishly originative , peculiarly when it comes to jellies . While I ’m apt to go tamely with our tried and true recipes using only a few ingredient — red wine-colored and rosemary , for instance , or mass - Malus pumila — she’ll throw just about anything into a mess of gelatin but the kitchen sink .
turn over one of today ’s concoctions , which Linda names Sangria Jelly : It contains orange , lemon tree and Citrus paradisi juices ; lemon balm and gingerroot ; then , at the last mo , she slash in a little reddened wine . There might be something else in the mix , too , but I ca n’t remember and , unfortunately , Linda and I are awfully slack about recording the ingredients we employ when manufacture a new jelly .
With a champion to serve and offer laughs and inspiration , what could easy be slow jelly - bring in drudgery transforms into a apace slip away day of creative fun and comradery . ( Linda ’s jape of the twenty-four hours : “ We both have academic degree from University of Washington , which means we do n’t make a lot of money . But , hey , we make a lot of jellies ! ” ) Before we know it , we ’re sitting down to sample a record seven delectable jellies on slices of baguette , from my beloved Chianti - Rosemary to Linda ’s new Mint with Lemon Pepper and Allspice . I cognise — sound kind of strange , but it ’s good !
If you grow herbaceous plant but have never made jelly before , why not prove it ? I wrote a floor on herbal jelly - qualification in theJuly / August 2010Hobby Farm Home , called “ Summer in a Jar , ” and you ’ll find jelly recipe and corking canning advice in that canner ’s Word , theBall Blue Book of Preserving .
~ Cherie
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