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My good friend and neighbor Kelli invited me to share her tent space at the 2016 Tomato Arts Fest in East Nashville, TN. If you haven't heard of or attended this one-day event, it is a fantastic community-oriented day of tomatoes, art, and music. The day started slow and I was getting nervous. The tasting party went amazingly well. I got great feedback but... Then, much to my delight, customers started stopping by, asking questions, taking a taste and...you guessed it...buying them. That's right. Strangers liked our jellies. I was making money for something that I loved and believed in....

I love Honey Child's flavor profiles. I think they rock. Bigger question is what will everyone else think about them. Only thing to do is invite a group of friends over for a honey jelly tasting party. Whipped up a batch of homemade biscuits to go with them. I mean, I could have gone with plain crackers but how fun is that? Honey Child Jellies are the perfect topping to a biscuit...don't you think? My friends are amazing and have no problems with voicing their opinions. I can't thank them enough for their feedback.  By the way guys, I revised the...

One of my favorite restaurants in East Nashville is Lockland Table and one of my favorite things to eat there is their chicken liver pate served with smoked peach preserves. Since first tasting their preserves, I just knew that smoked peaches and honey would be a spectacular combination.   So I got to work on sourcing fresh peaches. The Peach Truck sells fresh in-season Georgia peaches at most of the farmers markets in and around Nashville. Obvious, right? Lucky for me, I was able to buy a number of 1/2 bushel boxes. Around that same time, we inherited a Big Green Egg....

One of my all time favorite flavors of honey jelly is blueberry. I think blueberries and honey are one of nature's perfect combinations. Visualize this, it's August in Tennessee. Tennessee is in the South. It's August. Get the picture? Now imagine picking blueberries in August...in Tennessee...in the South. I got up super early this morning to drive to Trace View Farm in Santa Fe, TN. Bernie Ellis (the farmer) recommended that I make an early start since, you know, it's August. Bernie asked if I wanted to pick 1 or 2 gallons. I guess if I'm going to be picking...

Okay, found the honey. Next step is the jars. Over the years, I've put this jelly in all sorts of jars -- regular Ball jars, fancy Weck jars, octagonal jars, tall skinny jars. Some worked, some not so much. After much back and forth (in my head), I finally settled on short, round jars with white lids. Sounds easy enough, right? Turns out it was easy! I found the perfect jars this time around! Now lets get canning. Karen