Kissing summer good bye - with Basil Jelly!

It's true, the thing I talked about a few weeks ago. About summer ending and my food world shifting along with it. It's happening and I feel more ready for it than I'd thought I would. This summer has been a big one for me. Lots of life changes and becoming myself kind of stuff. The garden I planted, though its production was not exactly great, held a lot of meaning. When I planted it, back at the end of April, I think I kind of knew what was about to go down. It felt like I was staking my claim to the life I wanted, which was to stay put and make a home for myself even if this guy I thought I might have married wanted none of it. And look! I got to stay and appreciate the small harvest I did get from that garden and make a home that I love (except for the ants!). My next plan is to plant a fall garden. By that I mean I'm going to plant as many kale starts and seeds as I can fit into the bed and make a cold frame over it because I eat enough kale in one week to feed a small village for a month. It's. So. Yummy! But, to get ready for the new, you gotta uproot the old. So I pulled up almost all of my summer plants (two more to go, a Roma tomato and a banana pepper that have probably given their last fruits by now). I picked a ton of green tomatoes, so stay tuned for a green tomato pie.

The other thing I did was harvest the rest of my basil. I am sad to report that I should have only harvested on plant because I wasn't able to use it all and threw out about two cups of basil leaves after they turned black in my fridge :(. However, I used most of it. And no, I did not make pesto. I have an affliction of some sort that makes my pesto come out wrong every single time. Instead, I made basil jelly. Herbal jellies are generally quite delicious - one of my faves being lavender jelly. Earlier in the summer, I made a batch from my basil, which was growing prodigiously, and disbursed it among friends to get their opinions. The response was overwhelmingly positive, so I decided to make another big batch and now have more basil jelly in my cupboard than I could eat in a lifetime. Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas... botulism! Ha ha, just kidding. I boiled the crap out of everything. Really, though, I am planning to do homemade food-related gifts (including a top secret project that I won't post about until I've actually started it) for lots of people this year and this is one of the things I plan to give. It's really a great little treat. Like any other jelly, it goes well on plain 'ol toast with butter. Not sure about PBJs but I would certainly say ABJs (almond butter and jellies). The other great way to use it is in savory applications so you get that sweet/salty combo which I'm a big fan of. Think lunch meat sanwiches and crackers with cream cheese. That kinda thing. I am also wondering about thumbprint cookies with basil jelly. The recipe is below. And truly, making jelly is a snap so don't be intimidated. Enjoy!

Basil Jelly

Ingredients
2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaf
1.5 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups water
6 1/2 cups sugar
2 (3 ounce) envelopes Certo liquid pectin

Directions

1. Place the basil leaves, lemon juice and vinegar in an 8-10 quart sauce pot. Let the basil, lemon juice and vinegar stand while you are measuring the water and sugar.

2. Add the water and heat almost to a boil, stirring to blend, then add sugar all at once. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a hard boil.

3. Add both pouches of Certo, stir to mix and return to a hard boil. Boil for 1 minute or until jelly point is reached. (What that means is if you dip some liquid up with a spoon and then tip it back in, the last droplet sort of gel as they drip off).

4. Remove from heat. Remove basil leaves with a slotted spoon. Pour immediately into hot sterilized 1/2 pint jars. Seal and process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

This makes quite a bit of jelly. If you use the little bitty jars like I did, I reccomend getting two flats.