May 15, 2012

Pink and Blue, and Violet Jelly, Too!

Izannah Walker Dolls Take A Ride About Corgyncombe!
This May we have had lovely, sunny spring weather and the apple trees were blossomed to absolute perfection, with their delightful scent filling the air!

The chosen music to accompany this post is from
"Anne of Green Gables":

Click Here for Specially Chosen Musical Entertainments.
Return Here to Read the Corgyncombe Courant.
The music is so delightful whilst reading!

The lawn is also just full of an abundance of sweet blue violets! Izzibeth and IzziAnnie decided to take the carriage and go out amongst the beauty of May! The Baltimore Orioles could be seen and heard as they flew from apple tree to apple tree! What a lovely clear song the Oriole has! The girls were sure that the Orioles had a nest in one of the tall trees.

The Dame's Rocket will be ready to blossom soon. It is Diane's favourite flower and it is so fragrant in the evening! We think it will be blooming in great numbers this year as it seems to after a flood the previous year.


Izzibeth and IzziAnnie are both Izannah Walker inspired dolls. Izzibeth, made by talented dollmaker Paula Walton, is dressed in a frock and sunbonnet, both made of antique double pink fabric. IzziAnnie, made by talented dollmaker Margie Herrera, is dressed in a lovely blue frock made of antique fabric. IzziAnnie found a blue bonnet to wear in a box of doll clothes and she loves it as she thinks it makes her look like a pretty flower!

Izzibeth and IzziAnnie stop to smell the apple blossoms.
Mmmmm, the sweet apple blossoms of May!



A favoured view of the goats at pasture, framed in apple blossoms!


In the book "1 is One" by Tasha Tudor, she illustrated apple blossoms as a border around the
"7 is seven apples on a little apple tree" pages. For the number 13, Tasha Tudor illustrated violets as decoration atop a gift and around a birthday cake.



The girls stopped to pick some violets.
Seeing the violets on the lawn reminds us 'tis time for the making of the violet jelly!


Gathering violets that grow wild about the lawn at Corgyncombe!


The violets are gathered and washed in a colander and put into jars, then boiling water is poured over them.



The infusion was placed in the ice box overnight and was strained in the morning.
The resulting liquid was a beautiful blue!




Fresh lemon juice was added and, oh my, what a delightful colour change as the liquid turned bright pink! This was so much fun! Diane could put lemon juice in violet water all day just to watch the marvelous change of colour!

The rest of the process involved adding sugar and pectin and boiling before ladling the jelly into sterilized jars and processing in a water bath canner.

Violet Jelly ready to put on cakes at tea!

We have made two batches of Violet Jelly this year.
We feel like Pooh Bear licking the kettle, ladle and spoons, as it truly tastes like Violet Honey!!!

Bridget and Eliza have also been out and about on the lawn at Corgyncombe and hope to have a post up soon but please be patient Dear Readers!

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2012/05/pink-and-blue-and-violet-jelly-too.html

copyright © 2012 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson

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2 comments:

Marqueta (Mar-kee-ta) G. said...

Dear Diane and Sarah,

What a lovely excursion! Our violets are long gone here in Missouri, so it's nice to see yours. They make life such a sweet thing, especially in jelly. :)

Love,

Marqueta

The BUTT'RY and BOOK'RY said...

Oh how I wish I would have remembered the violet jelly receipt a few weeks ago when there was such of a abundence of violets here! Perhaps I can still gather enough for a small batch!
The jars look sooo pretty! ;-D

Izzibeth and IzziAnnie are having such a lovely ride on a grand day for an outing!!!
Many Blessings and Hugs,
Linnie and the Mousiekin Family

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