This was the harvest haul of jalapeños from the garden two weeks ago. ONE plant produced all of these in just a couple of weeks. It's been a prolific plant, that's for sure.
So when life hands you jalapeños....
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| Jalapeños |
...the canning bug tells me to make jelly! This was the weekend where it rained heavy both days and we stayed in town.
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| Jalapeno jelly ingredients |
This is the recipe from the Ball Website. When you're a newbie to canning (like me), it's best not to experiment with canning until you really understand how it works. So I found the official jalapeño jelly recipe. It's 12 ounces of jalapeños (since ours were smallish, all of them weighed 12.2 ounces. Then it was just 2 cups of apple cider vinegar, 6 cups sugar, and a pouch of liquid pectin.
I took the stems off, sliced the jalapeños in half (I didn't de-seed them, we like it spicy), and put them in the chopper along with ONE cup of the vinegar...
Whiz them around until they are sufficiently minced...
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| Making jalapeño jelly |
I poured it into the jam pan along with the sugar and the other cup of vinegar...
Heat to boiling over high heat...
Once it reaches boiling, set your timer for 10 minutes and continue to boil, stirring frequently...
At the end of 10 minutes, get your packet of pectin out and pour it in. The foam almost immediately goes away. Stir and let boil hard for 1 minute and then remove from heat. Some recipes add green food coloring to turn it a bright green. I like this natural greenish/gold color.
At this point, I skimmed off any remaining foam...
At this point, I skimmed off any remaining foam...
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| Jalapeno jelly jars |
I had my area ready, the jars washed and cleaned of course, and filled them up, leaving 1/4" headspace...oops, spilled a bit!
Loaded them into the canning rack...
And lowered them into the waterbath. I processed them in boiling water for 10 minutes...
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| Canning jalapeno jelly |
...and then removed them to a towel to await the "lid popping".
I just love that sound! We ended up with 11 of of these smaller jars.
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| Jalapeno Jelly |
Aren't they pretty?
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| Jalapeño jelly with cream cheese |
Of course, we HAD to have some...on club crackers...spread with cream cheese (we used the whipped kind) and then topped with the wonderful sweet and spicy jelly. Oh my, it was SO good...I also took some to work and it was enjoyed!
Anyone else like and/or make jalapeño jelly?
DISCLAIMER:
PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible to know and understand the current canning and processing recommendations for safety. Canning is fun but you MUST follow guidelines to make sure you are doing it safely. I had to learn (and still am) so do your research on safe canning techniques.
A great link to official information is http://nchfp.uga.edu/ and
Oooooo! Thanks for the idea. We have two jalapeño plants that are going gang busters. Christmas presents! I've already frozen a bunch for the winter (just clean them, leave them in strips because you can always chop them more while frozen and stash in a zip freezer bag). We also have a crazy amount of banana peppers. We have donated over 20 pounds to the local food bank. It seems like the more you pick, the more they grow. One of these days I am going to find a good pickling recipe for them. Are your jars half pints?
ReplyDeleteKatie, I think 1st man used the small; 4oz jars.
DeleteYep they were the smaller 4oz jars so that's how had more. Otherwise it might have been about 5 or 6 half pints. For something like this we like the smaller jars as not everyone is a fan of spicy jelly ha.
DeleteThanks, good to know. Now I just need to get some of those jars.
DeleteI finally made the jelly tonight. I got 12 of the small jars with half of a half pint for tasting ;-) I have so many jalapeños and banana peppers, I am going to take a bunch to the food bank tomorrow. I already froze as many as I need for the next year. BTW, I didn't include the seeds in the jelly since I am going to use them for presents. Yummy! Do you have any of yours left?
DeleteHey sweet Katie!!! We DO have some left, we're trying to moderate and make them last through the season but it's hard, ha. And then 2nd Man said "lets make some to give away at Christmas" so I might be making more. So glad you tried it!! And it worked!
DeleteLooking good there 1st Man. Yup; you got the canning bug for sure.
ReplyDeleteLittle tip:
To keep your jars hot while your making the jelly or preparing anything to be canned; in order to keeping your jars Hot, after washing and sterilizing them, put jars on baking sheet and put in low heated (200 deg. preheated )oven until ready to fill. Last thing you want to do is pour hot liquid into a cool jar.
Not like YOU and the canning but, I haven't gotten up at 4am yet, ha, but it's fun. Great idea for the oven. I usually run the dishwasher and leave them in while it's still hot but i like the idea of the oven. Thanks!!!
Deletewhen making jellies and jam if you put just a dab of butter while heating up your mixture you will get less foam to spoon off
DeleteI like the natural color of the jelly also. I am experimenting with herb jelly right now and leaving it uncolored. It seems that I am winding up with a lot of yellowish jellies of different flavors. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteHa, I was wondering about that. Like it would be awesome to have lavender jelly but you'd want it to be purple, HA! I'll have to look into other herbs....
DeleteI cannot handle jalapenos so I grew cayenne. I made my jelly without seeds but I cooked them with seeds and strained the jelly. After the first batch of jalapenos, I did make jalapeno jelly with jalapenos given to me or bought. It was sooo hot.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to get all fancy, so I made cayenne red or the hot stuff and green for the mild. It was so pretty for Christmas and gifts. I made so much and sold it that I paid for all the ingredients, paid for the jars, had paid-for jars (10 doz) that I did not used, and cash in my pocket. Plus, I went to a Christmas part and gave out 2-oz jars of jelly just because.
Cream cheese with jelly on top of it is the best way. My friend and her husband loved this so much, they used any kind of cheese. I am talking cheddar and such and put it on loaf bread for sandwiches!
By the way, the crackers that are wheat and are WM brand are best to me.
It seems typing while lying on my back does not work out for readable type!
DeleteShould read, "after the first batch of cayenne, I made jalapeno"
I left off lots of letters, but, oh well.
What a great story!!! Thanks for the inspiration, maybe I'll get some people wanting to buy it, ha. It all makes sense to me, nice job and congrats to you for making something so awesome!!
DeleteI like the idea of this, but i only have a few jalapenos, whereas I have loads of cayenees , although hey might be a bit too hot for this !
ReplyDeleteKev,
DeleteI find jalapeno too hot, so I used cayenne. It works with any pepper. See my comment above.
Cayennes might be good and like Parsimony said, she's done it too. I don't see why it wouldn't work with any pepper. And there are always the methods of straining out the solids (was, etc) to make it not so hot. Let us know if you make some. I'm telling you this was so easy!!
DeleteAs a rule, I am a total jelly failure - but you have kind of inspired me! My stepson loves jalapeno anything....
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Katy, you HAVE to try this it's not hard. Really it's just blending up the jalapeños with one cup of the vinegar, adding it to the sugar with another cup, boil for 10 minutes, add the pectin, stir and it's done. SO easy!!! I hope you'll try it!!!
DeleteYour jars of jelly look like green jewels! Sooo pretty!
ReplyDeleteMy jalapeno peppers are still producing, so this sounds like a great use for them. Thanks!
Thanks, I think that's what I always loved about seeing my grandmothers canning, the glistened like jewels! This is so good and so easy!
DeleteYour pictures are SO pretty. I love that closeup of the jar with the light coming through it and the jars in the canning rack look like a picture from the Ball website hahaha. OK and the jelly looks DELICIOSA! (I made up that word hahaha).
ReplyDeleteThank you, they did photograph nicely, ha. You are very sweet and I like that word, LOL!
DeleteYou are quite the pro canner it seems, love your neat work area. My kitchen is a disaster when I can. Pots everywhere, decapitated tomatoes strewn about, a countertop that looks positively war ravaged but I crank up my music and have a good time. As long as the "ping" of the canning jar resounds...all is well. Keep up the great work, wonderful pics showing the whole process.
ReplyDeleteYou are too sweet! Thanks, I've always been kind of organized when I can be, and of course I'm canning easy stuff so far, but it helps having a space to spread out on. I'll have to post some pics of my process, ha. Thanks again!!!
DeleteWOW, you inspire me!!!!!!! That's beautiful and looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks for that!!!
DeleteWe have some red hungarian hot wax chilli peppers that will be used in the same way, once I get my apple cider vinegar. We don't can over here though, still works fine as long as the caps pop!
ReplyDeleteSorry for delay on this reply. That's awesome, I bet yours is delicious!!! Popping is always a good thing anywhere huh? HA!!!
DeleteI make Pepper jelly every year, not just with the hot peppers. Try it as a side with Lamb. Have you made red sweet pepper jelly? It is a beautiful color and again with the cream cheese. I add a red Jalapeno to my red pepper jelly for a bit of heat. Jellies are the best thing to start learning to can with. I agree with you about the natural color
ReplyDeleteRed? I love that. Thanks!!! Yep, learning well with jellies and jams. So much fun. And yeah, while there are pretty "bright green" jars of jelly, the natural just seems so, well, natural, ha. Thanks!!!
Delete