Instructions: I dont know what it is about us Southerners that makes us want to can everything in sight. When fruits and vegetables are teeming from the garden, what is not eaten is canned.

Growing up in Mississippi, I knew plenty of women who, year after year, would go through the rituals and hardships of canning. And pepper jelly is one of the prizes of a bountiful back yard.

Making the jam is not an easy process, it is time consuming and leaves even the cleanest cooks kitchen looking like a whole garden exploded. But the rewards are magical: green or red pepper jelly on roast lamb, stewed tomatoes with a hearty soup in the middle of winter, or with sweet figs on toast.

Grandma Jesse made a pepper jelly like nobodys business. When I taste that jelly, all I can say is, "Lord have mercy." I eat it straight from the jar!

When Jesse set to cooking, all hell would break loose in the kitchen. She was known all over Greenwood, Miss., for her cooking. Neighborhood kids would beg their parents to spend the night with Jesses kids just so they could get in on the dinner spread. But the catch was the cleanup, which was left to the kids.

The mess could make you cry, but in the end, it was always worth the tears.

Canning jars are held sacred in a Southerners home. There was not one jar that Jesse did not keep - mayonnaise jars, jelly jars, peanut butter jars ... you name it. Every one of those jars was put to use (call it recycling, Southern style). As for the fruits and vegetables used for the canning, that was a whole nother story.

If you wanted Grandmas pepper jelly, you had best bring her some peppers. To this day, I dont think Jesse paid for one pepper she turned out for jelly.

Still, friends and family came in droves for her jelly - dropping off baskets full of green and red peppers. Jesse would whip up batches until the whole kitchen was filled with jars.

To begin the pepper jelly, I take 10 bell peppers and chop them into rough squares. I process them with a little water in a blender or food processor.

You can bet that neither Jesse nor many Southern cooks measure anything. That is the way they are taught to cook. Its a handful of this and a handful of that. So I throw in a minced jalapeno or two depending on my mood. I pour in maybe two big cupfuls each of apple cider vinegar and white sugar and bring it to a boil, simmering for about eight minutes.

If I really want a deep green color, Ill add in a few drops of good-quality food coloring. I then add in a package of pectin and boil for another two minutes.

I make sure I boil my jars really well to sterilize them and fill about a dozen half-pint jars. When cool, I screw on the lid tight and store in my pantry. The same jelly can be made with red bell peppers, instead of the green.

Jesse lives on in her cooking, and I aim to know all of her secrets one day. and Im going to keep spreading the word and spreading the jelly. I adore it on roasted lamb and slow-roasted pork loin. Jesse used to serve up with her amazing biscuits. I have a batch of those biscuits in the oven as we speak. Gotta run!

PESTO

(Makes 1 cup)

2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 garlic clove, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Put all the ingredients except the cheese in a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender and process until smooth. Pour the sauce into a bowl and stir in the Parmigiano. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

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