I had the pleasure of spending many hot summers in a vegetable patch as a child. After each trip to the veggie farm I could guarantee a few things: 1.) I would be dripping in sweat 2.) I would have buns of steel from all the squatting to pick each green bean plant clean* 3.) We would have canned veggies/butters/jellies for a year.
Vegetable/Fruit picker’s tip: If you ever get the luxury of picking at someone else’s farm, listen carefully and follow all of their rules or you will never be invited to come back again. And always pick all mature veggies from the plant. DO NOT only pick what you want from one plant and move on to the next or you will be banned.
Anyway, I am hosting my first “how to”/DIY class in a few days and the lesson is in canning and preserving. Just to make sure I wasn’t rusty, I went ahead and made some jars of Champagne Blush Jelly.
yields about 6 half-pints or 12 (8oz) jars
3 cups bottled raspberry juice* 1/4 cup lemon juice 6 tablespoons Ball Classic Pectin
4 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups of Champagne
Combine raspberry juice* and lemon juice in a large sauce pot; stir in classic pectin. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Champagne. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jelly into jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
BelleAtlanta 