Whoa! It’s been a whirlwind of a month! I’ve been busier than I’ve ever been. I won’t go into details but if a picture is worth a thousand words (or ahem, 85,000!) then here you go:
Photo by Bennett Sell-Kline
I haven’t been back to my beloved Berkshires, and more importantly, my beloved garden since August 21st to be exact. (ugh!) It feels like those lazy summer days I dreamt about last winter remained just what they were – a dream.
Some people in my life find it hard to believe I do what I do, and I garden, and I preserve the bounty, and I roar over here about it. But you know what? I love it – all of it! I hope you’ll stick around even during those times when my paws are busy with other things, and I can’t be around here quite as often. ‘Cause you know, eventually I’m going to give you something like this:
Lemon basil nectarine preserves as crazy as my August was, I couldn’t bear to let nectarine season go by without getting some of these little sweeties in jars. One of my fave preserves from last year was nectarine preserves with summer savory and white pepper.
For this batch I used the following:
4 pounds nectarines
4 & 3/4 cups sugar
3 lemons & large bunch lemon basil
I followed exactly the same technique as last year’s recipe, but because of my business, I left the fruit macerating in the fridge for 2 full days and nights. Bury the lemon basil in your just simmered fruit on day one, keep it in there throughout the maceration process, then take it out just before you put it on the stove day 3. The combo is brilliant – if I do say so myself. Don’t forget to check out my other preserves recipes here.
