Oddly, I have an surfeit of peppers in my garden this year. I can’t see the point in canning another jar of hot peppers so I made a small batch of “hot” pepper jelly.
This is half of the recipe from the Sure Jell direction page from an old package of pectin. For the past few years I have been buying the Ball brand pectin in the large bottle so I can measure out what I need for small batches of jam. It worked great here.
The recipe specifies sweet peppers and 10 jalapenos, minced. I used what I have in the garden, hot cherry peppers, jalapenos, poblanos and sweet Italian frying peppers.
2 cups minced peppers (if the peppers become too soupy, strain off some of the liquid before adding to the pot)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. powdered pectin
1/4 tsp. salt
a pinch of butter, about 1/4 tsp.
2 1/2 cups sugar
Sterilize your jars. This amount will make about 3 half-pint jelly jars or 7 4-oz jelly jars.
Put water on to boil for the water bath. The pot should be able to hold all the jars at once, covered by 1-inch of water.
Measure your ingredients carefully.
Measure the sugar into a bowl and set aside.
Prepare the peppers, measure out exactly 2 cups and add to a large pot (4-quart pot works nicely). Add the vinegar, pectin, salt and pinch of butter. Bring to a full, rolling boil. That’s a boil that can not be stirred down.
Add the sugar all at once. Bring back to a full, rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, boil exactly one minute.
Remove from heat and pack into sterile jars. Wipe the rims Cap with two piece caps that have been put in hot, not boiling water.
Process 10 minutes in water bath. Remove, place on towel or rack and let stand until completely cooled, at least 12 hours. Check the seals. Refrigerate any jars that have not sealed.
Sian Family Recipes 