I did something new!

Today I learned two new skills; canning and jelly making. The latter is much simpler than the former.

I also learned that there is no damn place in this part of Ohio that sells food mills, even when they lie and say they have them stocked and in store on the website. No matter what anyone says, colanders are not the same thing, so don't let them lie to you. Also, it seems that canning funnels are some rare commodity as well, but one did turn up eventually.

Canning is a right pain in the ass. Seemed no matter what I did, something was about to get dangerous. Boiling water, simmering sauce, boiling sugar, sharp metal bits and dogs underfoot every moment of it. Not as fun as it sounds. And endless washing. I detest washing dishes.

But jelly making was fun. Turns out that savory jellies are fairly popular, as I discovered when I tried desperately to find recpies that would use up the ungodly amount of basil that my garden was putting out. Basil jelly may sound weird, but tastes wonderful, smells fantastic, and is a great way to use up extra plant bits. Mind, I ended up using nearly twice the amount of basil called for, but it hurt nothing, and see above about taste and smell.

Still waiting to see how many of the jars will seal. If all goes well, will have ten jars of spaghetti sauce and seven of jelly.