The Rose Tinted mum

Within life there are certain things that trigger memories and normally these memories are aroused by one of the five senses.

For me the smell of mint is one of them, it instantly takes me back to my early days at home within our family garden.

As a child I was very lucky to have grown up in one home until I spread my wings and moved away.

The predictability of our family home gave me great comfort, mainly due to my parents.

I would often find my Mum in the kitchen, as in the good old days, this was the centre of the family home.

Often not cooking, just drinking a cuppa and collecting her thoughts of what needed to be done.

As for my dad he would often be tinkering in his shed or in the garden getting excited by the daily growth of his much-loved vegetables.

Then after tea on a Friday and over the weekend, you would find both of them with their feet up on the sofa, reading a good book.

Like most, they both work hard and often this was not an easy life, but by doing this, it gave us all a life we could enjoy.

This 3-bed semi-detached home on the outer corner of an estate, was our little paradise.

Often you would forget we lived on an estate, as out of all the windows we had a view, the front looking over farmland, as the back look out on to the recreation ground.

Satisfyingly our house edged out a little further than everyone else’s, which gave the impression that we lived on our own.

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As a child my parents gave me a small area within the family garden to grow my own plants.

My little paradise consisted of herbs and strawberries.

I used to love sitting amongst the plants rubbing the leaves to smell their delicious sent.

Still now, when I visit the allotment, I often pick a little bit of mint and carry it around with me, rubbing it every so often between my hands to enjoy the smell.

Also, Billy has started to follow suit, I often find him wondering around holding a piece like a comforter or a piece hanging out of his nose 😊.

So, this week, I was brought back to my happy place with this recipe.

The aroma was just satisfying.

Happy cooking

Mint Jelly Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups of packed mint leaves
• 2 ¾ cups of water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 ½ cups of sugar
• 3oz liquid pectin

Instruction

• Wash the mint under cool water, shake off excess moisture and finely chop.
• Put the mint and water in a pan and bring it to the boil over a medium to high heat.
• Remove from the heat and allow to infusion for 10 minutes.
• Separate the mint from the water through a small holed sieve or a damp jelly bag.
• Let it drain till you have collected 1 ¾ cups of mint water.
• Put the mint water, lemon juice and sugar in a pan and bring it to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
• Stir the liquid pectin and boil hard for a minute.
• Remove from heat and skim off foam, working quickly as the jelly may set.
• Then pour or ladle into sterilised jars and screw the lids on.    

Remember you may not feel strong but you are

Love

The Rose-Tinted Mum