In my family it is said only half jokingly that if we aren’t actually eating or cooking, we are talking about food. Even the youngest of the infamous “Cousins” have taken an active interest in the process. My nephew Chris at around 6-years old once explained to someone, “We’re a family of foodies.” Seriously.

Just finished making my first…and last…batch of apple jelly.  It may take me a week to recuperate.    Jelly making had never been something that interested me, but stuck as I was between strawberry and blueberry jam seasons and with weeks to go before peach season began and still mentally trapped in the whole “preserving for winter” frame of mind, all it took was my sister Joan mentioning how hard it is to find apple jelly in the supermarket these days.  We reminisced about how we used to love grilled English muffins with apple jelly on them when we were kids and how the muffins just aren’t the same without apple jelly, and I thought “What the heck, why not?”