Jamming Some Red Hot Chili Peppers
Every Labor Day weekend for the past 4 years I've dogsit for friends of mine. They have a lovely house and huge kitchen. I take full advantage of the kitchen by canning. My friend's garden always has tomatoes and peppers, and by the time I dogsit they're ready for me to have any and as much as I'd like. This year I made pepper jam- sweet, spicy and if done right has a slight kick to it at the end. I didn't get an photos of the after- but promise it's delicious.
A note on red jalapeno peppers- it's likely you won't be able to find them in the store. Jalapenos turn red after their peak of being green. Since most grocers pick produce before their peak in the hopes that at the store they'll be ripe for purchase, you'll most likely find only green peppers. You may find them at a farmers market. I wanted to use as many reds as possible to have a very vibrant color jam. Don't feel like you HAVE to find red jalapenos. You can use normal green jalapenos and still have a lovely jam. If you want more red in it, get more red bell peppers. They should help in balancing out the colors.
Ingredients
18 Red jalapeno peppers
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 green jalapeno peppers
1.5 cups apple cider or white vinegar
4 cups white sugar
Pectin Follow the directions for quantity recommended by manufacturer.
Fun alternative: You can use grated apple. they are full of their own natural pectin and add a another level of sweetness to the jam.
Directions
- Clean and seed bell peppers. Depending on the spice level you want seed half and keep the seeds in the other half. I however want to eat this by the spoonful so I keep it on the sweeter side. I kept seeds in four.
- Put all peppers in food processor and pulse to small pieces.
- In a large pot, add peppers, vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil. If you’re going to try with apples, add them now.
- Give it a taste now- add more hot peppers or sugar as you desire.
- Depending on the brand of pectin you are using, add it at the appropriate time per manufacturer's directions.
- Continue to cook jam until it has thickened. You can test for doneness by putting a drop of the hot jam on a cold plate. If it sets up to the thickness you like, it’s done. If it’s still too runny, cook it more.
- When jam has cooked to desired consistency, pour jam into clean, processed canning jars, seal, and finish processing with a water bath. If that’s too much work, pour jam into clean jars and keep it refrigerated. Without water bath and processing, the jam should keep in the fridge for at least a month. With water bath processing, these jars of deliciousness should keep for a year in dry dark storage, refrigerated after opening.
So now you've got all this jam- what do you do with it? Well here are a few ideas:
- Sandwich spread- turkey, roast beef, marinated veg- whatever your fancy slather this on the bread in place of mustard or mayo
- Brie! Goats Cheese! This stuff LOVES cheese. Brie- Slice width-wise and add it to the middle. Wrap in a crescent roll and bake. Goats Cheese- warm up the pepper jam and pour over a log of goats cheese. Don't bother with a knife but use a cracker to scoop it up.
- Eggs? Dollop a little on scrambled eggs, swirl it up.
Is that enough? Tell me how you'd use a jar of jalapeno jam and I might just have to send you one!
This Week's BreadLust
- If you're interested in learning more about water bath canning read more from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
- The 13 Best Tweets About the Whole Foods/Amazon Merger
- What Kind of Traveler You Are, Based on Your Myers-Briggs Type Apparently my travel mantra is “Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” Shrug.
❤️,
Amy
