I wake up every morning fully intending to write something here, but I have become captive to my garden. If it is not zucchini, it is bread and butter pickles, or apples from our tree; which at this point I have about 30 lbs waiting for me in the kitchen. Four days ago, we went into town just to drop off some paperwork and wandered into our local meat locker. Don thought we might look into purchasing some peaches in bulk. Well turns out that the sold out the first day ( I was kind of relieved since I had 15 zucchinis on my kitchen table and 7 lbs of cucumbers not to mention all of the apples). What we left with was a 25 lb box of tomatoes which were sold to us at a reduced price because the woman at the locker did not want to process them herself at home and probably 3 lbs of jalapenos that needed to be used ASAP. The first day was devoted not to the apples, but to making salsa. We have a package mix, but we apparently wanted a challenge. I could find very few recipes that did not requite tomato paste but eventually I found one that was called Jalapeno Salsa. It had a bit more jalapeno than tomatoes, but with my background we were able to cob together a combination of a couple recipes and the salsa came out amazing. It would have been better if we actually had chips to dip it into in our house, but trying to be responsible healthy eating folk ( yeah right) we have none at this time. Rest assured that will be remedied as soon as I have time to go to walmart. Yesterday was devoted to 24 1/2 half pints of jalapeno jelly. The first batch I made a few weeks ago, I took all the seeds and membranes out of the peppers and thought it was fantastic. I thought this was the preferred way for our families sensitive tummies, but apparently Don was expecting a bit more bite, so yesterday I left a couple peppers with just a hint of membrane and it is a bit hot, but not so much that it sets your mouth on fire. Speaking of fire, I have a recipe for what my ex-husbands brother calls bottled hell. It is a homemade hot sauce that lives up to its name. I plan to make a few pints of that. My 23 year old daughter and 25 year old nephew love the stuff so I will make it for them and maybe a toned down version for us here at the farm, because every once in awhile I come across a recipe that calls for hot sauce and I never have any. The day before that we canned diced tomatos. I will get to all the processes we used for these things soon, but today is the promised TEXAS JALAPENO JELLY recipe. So enough talk.. her we go.
TEXAS JALAPENO JELLY
This recipe comes from the Aug. 2012 Taste of Home Canning and Preserving magazine on page 18. I have not adapted it in any way. I have been doubling and tripling the batches, which most jelly making experts seem to discourage due to the possability of the jelly not setting up. I did find this morning a blurb on the paper tucked inside my fruit pectin box (liquid) how to fix the problem of jelly that didn't set up correctly within 2 weeks. I will put that at the end (if I remember or don't get stopped in my writing).
To give credit where credit is due this recipe was given to the magazine by Lori McMullen, Victoria, TX. Again this is not my recipe, I am simply using this blog to tell what is working for me and what my results are. I am not trying to take credit for anything other than to say, "I made this and this is what happened and I like or don't like it."
TEXAS JALAPENO JELLY
2 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and choped (I used 6 large)
3 Medium green peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces, divided (I had 4 small from my garden)
1 1/2 cups white vinegar, divided (you will use one half cup at a time...I only used 1 cup because I
didn't have the right amount of green peppers. I knew what it should like like from my previous
jelly making so I knew it would turn out all right)
6 1/2 cups sugar (I used 19 1/2)
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper (I used 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes)
2 pouches (3 oz. each) liquid fruit pectin (I used 6 pouches)
About 6 drops of green food coloring, optional (I used somewhere between 18 and 24 drops to
achieve the green I wanted)
In a blender or food processor (I used a blender), place the jalapenos, half of the green peppers and 1/2 cup of the vinegar (even though I had tripled the recipe, I processed it 3 times in these amounts so I could be sure of the proper consistency). Cover and process until pureed. Transfer to a large dutch oven.
Repeat with the remaining green peppers and another 1/2 cup of vinegar. Add the sugar, cayenne pepper and remaining vinegar to pan ( I used all the 19 1/2 cups sugar and all my crushed red pepper flakes and all the rest of the vinegar... 3 cups) Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly (this takes quite awhile) over high heat. Quickly stir in the pectin. (while I was waiting for the pot to boil I was cutting open the pectin pouches and standing them in a measuring cup so when it was time I could pick them up two at a time and squeeze them into the pan). Return to a rolling boil (takes a while) and boil for one minute stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, skim off foam. Add food coloring, if desired (the jelly is an odd yellow color without it. To me jalapeno jelly should be jalapeno colored, but it probably doesn't really matter). Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Remove all air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 10 mins in a boiling-water bath canner. (I have been putting the lid on my canner to get the water to boil faster.. found out this morning this has always been the recommended way to do this then when the water boils, set my timer for 10 mins. I leave my lid on the canner to keep the water boiling, turns out that is the propper way.. and what I really didn't do is leave the jars of jelly in the water for an additional 5 mins after the timer goes off. I have been taking them out of the water immediately...mostly because I am pressed for time and in a hurry to get the next 14 jars back in the water before it cools.. mine have all sealed fine, but apparently we are supposed to leave them in the water 5 mins. after the processing time.)
I have never had jalapeno jelly before this summer so I did not know how to eat it. We did dip it in some sun dried tomato basil wheat thins, which was a divine experience for my taste buds. I have since learned from a co-worker that one should serve the jelly with cream cheese and dip crackers inthe cream cheese and jelly. Don and I spread cream cheese on the crackers then put jelly on top. A little jelly goes a long ways taste wise. It can get overwhelming if I put too much on my cracker. It is also delectable just dipping my finger into the cream cheese then into the jelly, but we are not telling anyone in my house that I did that.
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