Blue Ribbon Jalapeno Jelly
Our Jalapeno Jelly
One of the entries my daughter, Kyla, entered in the county fair was jalapeno jelly. Last summer, I had so many jalapenos coming off of two plants that I did not know what to do with them. I froze quarts of peppers for chili and pots of beans in the winter. We stuffed them with cream cheese and grilled them. Clayton and Lane even ate some raw. Despite all of our efforts including giving buckets of jalapenos away, we still had a growing surplus.
I had heard of jalapeno jelly, but had never tasted it. So, I started reading different recipes. I was surprised at how few jalapenos most of the recipes included. Their jelly recipes consisted mainly of bell peppers. Finally, I found a true jalapeno jelly and got to work.
It used only jalapenos, sugar, cider vinegar, and liquid pectin. Therefore, it looked relatively simple to make. After making my first batch, I was honestly afraid to try it. My entire house smelled spicy and hot. I could not imagine what the jelly was going to be like. A couple of days later, I worked up the nerve to open a jar. I could not believe how good the jelly tasted on a cracker! The jelly is surprisingly sweet.
Kyla seeding and coring the peppers. When I made it the first time, my glove had a slit in it. I found out by the burning of my skin. Wear gloves without holes!
I began bringing my jelly, crackers, and cream cheese to different get-togethers as an appetizer. People were raving about it. The whole jar would disappear before dinner was served. I was getting many requests for the jelly. For Christmas this past year, I created Farm Fresh Baskets and included decorated jars of my jalapeno jelly.
Now I have taught my daughter to make it. If I had to rate her experience level cooking, then she would be an intermediate. She bakes mostly and can cook some dinners without supervision. Even so, this jelly was not difficult for her to make. Her batch won a blue ribbon this week at the fair. Here is the recipe:
Jalapeno Jelly
3/4 lb of jalapenos, cored and seeded
2 cups apple-cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
2 pouches liquid pectin
3 drops of green food coloring (optional)
Wearing gloves, wash, seed, and core the jalapenos. Puree them in a food processor with 1 cup of vinegar. Pour into a medium sized pot. Add the other cup of vinegar and all the sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Allow to boil for 10 minutes. Add the pectin and let it rapidly boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim the top if needed. If desired, you can add food coloring.
Ladle jelly into clean, warm canning jars leaving a 1/4″ head space. Wipe the rim of the jar and put on sterile lid. Screw on the top. Put in water bath for 10 minutes. Remove, let cool, and check for good seal.
Serve with crackers and/or cream cheese.
The jelly itself is gluten-free. My mother-in-law found some great gluten-free crackers for us to eat with the jelly. They are Crunchmaster Multi-Grain Crackers. The jelly is excellent on just a plain cracker. Enjoy!
The amount of pectin required is 2 3 oz pouches of liquid pectin, which come to 6 oz total. I too have read to only use the liquid and that is what I have done because I can easily find liquid pectin. If I were you, I would use 6 oz of powdered pectin in its place this time. Here is a link to order liquid pectin from amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Realfruit-Liquid-Pectin-6-Ounce/dp/B005SK6Y16/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324426210&sr=8-2
I live in a small town and some things are extremely hard to find. For those items I order from Amazon. Just a thought.
Good luck with your jalapeno jelly.
Lara
o, thank u so much!!! i wanted to make this for some xmas gifts. I was afraid that no one would respond till after the holidays. Y, living in a small town is a blessing but sometimes a pain. but i wouldnt trade it for the world, lived in the bigger cities all my life cant beat a small town.
my neighbor has agreed to supervise me. she can do anything so i am confident that now i have all the information it should turn out great!!!
thanks again, i’ll keep u updated on my progress.
Great, Libby! Merry Christmas!
Lara
I made your recipe and I LOVE it and so does my family. Thank you, Thank you and Thank you for sharing!!!!
how long does it keep?
Ria,
If properly sealed, the jar of jelly should keep indefinitely. Once opened, it does not last very long because people eat it up so fast. If you don’t have a big crowd and there are leftovers, then it should keep for a few weeks refrigerated.
Lara
This looks great!
I agree about the lack of jalepenos in everybody’s recepies! I was thinking though, do you think it would work to subsitute 1/4 lb of the jalepenos for diced red and green peppers?
Would it change the safety quality of the canning?
Also, you say to place it in the water bath for ten minutes. This might be silly, but I am new to canning and this seems to change in all my recepies. Do you mean to add to a cool water bath, bring to a boil, then time for ten minutes; OR add to a warm water bath, bring to a boil, then time for ten minutes; OR heat my water bath to boiling and then place them in there for ten minutes?
Thank you!
Lyndsey,
If you want to change some of the jalapeno peppers for red or green ones, it should not mess up the safety quality of canning. The water bath is made by bringing water to a boil, placing the jars carefully submerged in the water, and then boiling for ten minutes. Remove jars and allow to cool. As they cool, the lids will begin popping, which indicates they are sealed.
Lara
This is a recipe that is very popular with our family we use on just about everything especilly on meat. Turkey is an all time favorite.
the more seeds you leave in the hotter it is. its good you can use red, orange bells for color. also the red jalapenos. i useally put all pepers in a processor just to a small size its great. to everyone who wants to try this recipe or any varation of, grape,strawberry peach,and kewi. so be adventureous and experiment good luck!!