Jalapeño Pepper Jelly!

A Few Pounds of Hot Peppers

Someone I follow on Twitter posted a recipe for an interesting Cranberry-Pepper Jelly (Hot). A most interesting aspect: suspending a whole pepper in each jar of clear red jelly! But the recipe had one problem: it only made three half pint jars. I like to fill our vessel when canning to save energy and also make the work worthwhile. Why make three when it's just as easy to make 15 jars?

15 Jars of Hot Jalapeño Pepper Jelly

Two Quarts of Currant Juice

We have a bumper crop of hot peppers so collecting enough for this recipe was easy. I selected 16 bright red peppers that were too big to fit the small canning jars and chopped them, seeds and all, in our food processor. I added the mash to two quarts of currant juice that we canned a few months ago because currants are tart and red as cranberries and I didn't have to go to a store and get cranberry juice cocktail. After adding 12 ounces of homemade apple cider I simmered it for 15 minutes before straining out the pepper bits. To the now clear liquid I added 10 cups of sugar, two packages of SureJell Fruit Pectin (@1.75 oz.) and a bunch of pretty ripe peppers. 

Making Jalapeño Jelly by Sterilizing Whole Peppers in the Currant Juice/ Sugar Mixture

After boiling the mixture for 15 minutes, I filled 16 jars and stacked them in the steam canner. After steaming for 15 minutes, I tightened the rings on their tops and let them cool. All tops "popped" indicating they are vacuum sealed.

Jars, Filled With Jelly and Pepper, Ready to Be Steamed

The remaining peppers will soon be processed using another recipe I came across: Cowboy Candy (Candied Jalapeños). The Currant/Jalapeño Jelly jelled within ten minutes and tastes terrific! Not too hot, but very exciting!

Peppers That Didn't Make It Into the Jelly

Currant/Jalapeño Jelly Recipe:
32, or so, Jalapeño Peppers
2 Quarts of Currant Juice (or Cranberry Juice Cocktail)
1.5 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
10 Cups Sugar
2 Packages of SureJell Fruit Pectin (or other jelling agent)

1. Chop the ugly half of the peppers in a food processor (or by hand), with or without seeds (that have most of the heat). 

2. Boil chopped peppers in the juice/cider mixture for 15 minutes and then separate using a strainer.

3. Add the sugar and pectin and when dissolved, add the good looking peppers, and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Ladle into jelly jars with one pepper in each, tip up (so stem doesn't get under the lid seal).

5. Steam for 15 minutes with lid rings loose.

6. Tighten the rings while hot to create the vacuum that "pops" the lids.

7. Label, with date.