A few words about canning. There are full seasons in life when I question why anyone would EVER spend hours picking fruit, transporting it, washing that fruit, cooking it, sterilizing jars for that fruit, and sealing it in a water bath. Isn’t there an industry committed to this already? Isn’t this one of the many benefits of living in the modern era? And yet, in this season, I have enjoyed canning because, for me, it is a season that feels not quite as full as others have been.
Years ago, when Grandmother moved into assisted living, she chose to give me all of her canning supplies. I LOVE my grandmother’s canning supplies—everything is old and has been used to can thousands of pickles, beets, peaches, okra, and tomatoes in addition to the many jars of relish, grape juice, applesauce, and beef (yup, kind of gross). This year, I canned lavender cocktail syrup in these same jars, which may have been a first for these family heirlooms. (Ok, it was TOTALLY a first.) I most recently canned seven jars (a tiny batch!) of peaches with my mom. Our kids don’t really care for frozen peaches, but they ADORE peaches and cream for a bedtime snack (or breakfast, to be honest), which are much better with canned peaches versus frozen.
So WHY preserve fruit by canning? Picking fruit and canning that fruit SLOWS ME DOWN in a way that I really can’t in many other ways. I am constantly on the move—always looking for something to clean or prepare for, always looking for something to enjoy—but canning and picking fruit (I don’t really can many vegetables) brings me to a place of enjoying the earth, the Creator of earth, the wind in the trees, and the people with whom I am in that experience. Picking up a can at the grocery store is so much more of a hectic, frantic act for me (although at some points in life, going to the grocery store was my sanctuary . . . I do love grocery shopping). I realize that not all of you enjoy canning, so I did include juice from canned peaches as an alternative to homemade peach juice in this cocktail recipe. I hope this can be a statement of NON-judgement for you NON-canners.
So canning might not be your JAM, but what are the things close to the earth and your people that SLOW YOU DOWN? Can you take a minute to do those things this weekend? Can you say, no to what you are supposed to do and rush toward the slow and the beautiful?
The Southern Basil
Serves 20 (in a 10-ounce rocks glass filled halfway with ice)
3 pint-size (14.5 ounces each) cans of peaches (homemade in light sugar syrup or store-bought canned peaches in 100% juice)
4 cups tonic
¾ cups lemon juice
6 cups bourbon
2 cups black tea
1 cup fresh basil, de-stemmed (with 1 cup extra—for garnish)
2 fresh peaches, if available, sliced into 8 sections each—for garnish)
Make the tea:
Combine 2 cups boiling water with one teabag of black tea and steep for one minute.
Remove the bag and add 1 cup basil. Steep for 15 minutes.
Remove basil and cool the tea until needed.
Make the cocktail:
Drain peaches from syrup, reserving liquid.
Pour 3 cups of the peach syrup into a gallon container through a fine-mesh sieve to keep out any peach bits.
Add ¾ cup lemon juice, 6 cups bourbon, and 2 cups tea (pour the tea through a fine-mesh sieve to keep out any leftover basil bits).
Stir or shake to combine.
When ready to serve, add 4 cups of tonic and garnish with basil leaves in the serving container and peach slices on the side for individual cups. Muddle extra basil in each glass for more basil flavor.
Purchase the Lark Cocktails book for dozens more great recipes! #livinglark
