Every year around this time I ask some form of the same question: Are we sure we don't have the recipe for mama's apple jelly? For goodness sakes, would you think? Where could it possibly be? Was it ever written down? How is it possible that you were with her all of those years and don't have this recipe to show for it? Weren't you watching? Did you check your recipe collection? What about your sisters, my aunts? Do you think they'd have it? Come on, this is an emergency!

Some of the questions are directed at my mom, but most of them just stay in my head for my own safety. Hopefully mama can hear the pleading in my mind, and the recipe will suddenly appear on my pillow or under my Christmas tree one year.

It seems that my taste for this mouthwatering apply jelly is particularly intense this holiday season. The craving is quite dire, in fact. All I can think about is the sweet, yummy goodness creating a perfect storm with the butter slathered on mama's homemade rolls.

Ahhhh....

Give me a minute.

Okay, as much as it pains me to say it, I should probably come to grips with the fact that this recipe isn't going to magically appear. Furthermore, it was probably not something mama ever wrote down. It was up to us to pay attention and to remember to ask her how she made it in between at least one of those thousands of bites we took of the roll and jelly dynamic duo. In thinking about it now, I've seen mama make a lot of things, but I never saw her make this jelly. Where was everyone when she did this? Did she get up at the crack of dawn to make it? This is more likely than not, as she was an early bird. Did she have an annual apple jelly making day? Is that why mason jars of it were always in abundance? Where did she get all of those mason jars anyway?

We always seemed to have an endless supply of my grandmother's homemade apple jelly. I don't ever recall a time when there wasn't any jelly around. It was always there when I visited her, and when I wasn't visiting her, I generally always had my own jar on deck. It's not even like I eat jelly much anymore anyway in adulthood, but if I decide I want a roll, a biscuit or toast, that's the jelly I want slathered on it. I can barely eat any other jelly without the words, 'I wish this was mama's jelly' floating around in my head. I've never tasted any jelly on the market that gives my taste buds the same, or even a similar sensation as Rosie Mae Griffin's.

In fact, whenever I came back home to Omaha from Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday, especially in those early years, I'd be sure to line up a jar of apple jelly to take back to my second home. I vaguely remember one of the last jars of jelly I had and trying to make it last as long as I could. Had I been smart enough to realize that my days were numbered with that jelly, I would've gotten a nice tutorial from mama on how to make it. I don't even have one mason jar to show for all of her hard work throughout the years, which is interesting considering how strict I am about saving things that are important to me. Talk about taking something completely for granted and thinking it would always be there.

Well, since I'm asking questions, I should probably ask myself a really good one: Would you have really made the apple jelly if you had the recipe, Lynette? And, if you did make it, would it taste anything like mama's? No, and no.

The real kicker is, I remember being on the phone with mama while in Chicago and her giving me the recipe for her infamous rolls, but I neglected to get the recipe for the apple jelly at the same time! What a dweeb I am. The two of them together was an incredible force to be reckoned with. I mean, really. There are no words for how delicious her homemade rolls were on their own, but it just wasn't fair with the accompanying homemade apple jelly.

Note to self: The apple jelly is gone, girl.

But I am going to make one last-ditch effort to find someone in this family who has some idea of how to make it. Maybe I just haven't asked the right person. Wish me luck!

What are some long lost recipes in your family that you wish you had today?

#grandmother #applejelly #holidays #recipes #family #tradition