Yes, I did Melly - half light brown sugar added to the peaches, the other half of the sugar is cane sugar added to the pan. Used the last of the bottle of Frangelico, just barely 6 oz, in place of the rum. Like you said about the peaches, the nectarines were sorry but the jam is fantastic. I figured the Frangelico being hazelnut would do the same thing for nectarines that almond does for peaches. I made your Peach Vanilla Almond (no beans) Jam today, with clear vanilla extract (1 tsp) and almond extract (1/2 tsp) added at the end. I got 6 8-oz jars, plus a half dozen chunks and some syrup left in the pan. I had boiled the pits (some not quite ripe so chunks left on the pits) and peels, planning to make the Peach Honey or syrup, but had 4C of juice so decided to put that in the pan with a small slice of ginger and a quart of frozen (thawed) blackberries from last year, pulled some berries out after heating to dissolve the sugar, used the same "French plunge" method adding the reserved berries after the syrup was almost gelled. I'm not sure I have a good set, and most of the fruit ended up in the first 4 jars (I got 5), and it's floating, but I'm calling it "Preserves" if it doesn't set hard. I got another 2 jars of "jelly" (or syrup?) I processed and then another almost 12 oz (10 oz?) I put in the fridge and boy it tastes yummy. Not bad for 4 lbs of peaches and a quart of berries (and 10C of sugar, and all day)! The jelly is such a beautiful color (except for a stray seed here and there) that I think next time I'm just going to add blackberry juice instead of whole berries and see whether that has enough pectin to make the peach juice set. I really prefer the taste of no-pectin preserves. Next time I have peaches, I'm thinking of trying the Helen Witty Peach-Rum Jam. Just had to have something the kids could eat this time since DD was the one who insisted I buy 6 lbs of peaches at the orchard this week ;-) Thanks for the recipe!

I was always surprised when they did the taste test for vanilla at America's Test Kitchen and the tasters couldn't tell the difference between real or imitation vanilla. Grainlady - America's Test Kitchen amended their conclusion about real vs. imitation vanilla with another vanilla taste test. They divided the test very specifically between baked goods and milk/pudding tests. In the milk/pudding tests, imitation vanilla fell to the bottom of the rankings. In baked goods, they found that "flavor and aroma compounds in vanilla begin to bake off at around 280 to 300 degrees. Cakes rarely exceed an internal temperature above 210 degrees; cookies become much hotter as they bake. As a result, pure vanilla kept a slight flavor advantage in the cake--but not in the cookies." Their conclusion was "If youâÂÂre only buying one bottle of vanilla for cooking, baking, and making cold and creamy desserts, our top choice is a real extract. If you only use vanilla for baking, we have to admit thereâÂÂs not much difference between a well-made synthetic vanilla and the real thing. Speaking to pastry chefs, we learned that many buy an arsenal of vanilla extracts, using cheaper imitation for baking and pure for confections made with moderate or no heat, such as puddings, pastry cream, and buttercream frosting." Their overall winner was the McCormick's Pure Vanilla.

I have a vanilla orchid that is variegated, but have never cut anything off of it. I have read that it is easy to root but you need to take a cutting with 6 nodes and mine is not that long-I am actually surprised it is still alive. I don't have great luck with orchids--too much love and water is my problem.

Penzey's here too, just like my cinnamon. It's easily accessible for me and I just stock up on things when I make a trip to the "big city". I had some gifted to me by Ilana that was made with rum, but didn't always want the rum flavor. I think it's more versatile made with vodka, as that seems to have less flavor of its own. 1 cup vodka 6 vanilla beans Split the beans lengthwise, place into bottle or container, add vodka. Make sure beans are covered. Shake a couple of times a week, it'll be ready in about 3 months. Fewer beans, longer time to sit. You can use the beans a second time, but you need less vodka. Truthfully, the vanilla I liked best was a gift from Carol/Readinglady and contained no alcohol at all. Of course, I don't remember the name, but the stuff smelled so good you could dab it behind your ears and wear it as perfume! Had a brown label..... Annie