Jalapeño Pepper Jelly

Sweet and spicy, serve with cream cheese on a cracker.

I’ve been helping my mom make jams and jellies since I was in elementary school. We had grapes in our back yard and I gave my teacher grape jelly every year for Christmas. Over the years, whenever I was making my own batch of jelly, I would call my mom up if something went wrong. She always had an answer.

My grape jelly didn’t set up? I didn’t realize your juice had to be cool when you put the pectin in, before you boil it. How much sugar? How much pectin? Myra had it all figured out.

Here are the rules, as I learned them from my mom:

1. Boil your jelly jars and lids for 1 minute.
2. Have the sugar measured out so you can dump it all in at once.
3. Wear gloves when you are cutting up and seeding the peppers.
4. Be sure you have a fan on when you are cooking the peppers, otherwise you can’t stop coughing.
5. Use one cup of sugar for every cup of juice or peppers.
6. Use 1 TBLS. of pectin for every cup of juice or peppers.
7. Stir the pectin into juice or peppers that are cool, then boil it.
8. Never make more than 4 cups of peppers or juice at a time.

Myra always put a drop of green food coloring in her pepper jelly to make it that vibrant green and mixed it in right before she put it in the jars. I don’t bother, and since I use a habanero (Myra’s secret ingredient) my pepper jelly is a darker green. You can make it really spicy, by not using green peppers. You can do half the recipe, but you must have exactly one cup of peppers for every cup of sugar.

This is not hard, but you do have to follow the rules!

Jalapeño Pepper Jelly

Spicy and Sweet, serve with cream cheese on a cracker.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Savory

Cuisine American

Servings 6 cups

Equipment

• 1 large stainless steel pot 10 or 12 quart
• 1 medium stainless steel pot 8 to 10 quart, to boil the jars and lids
• jelly jars, 1/2 or 1/4 pint with lids

Ingredients

  

• 2 medium green peppers
• 10 to 12 large Jalapeño peppers
• 1 habanero pepper
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 4 cups sugar
• 4 TBLS. Classic real fruit pectin

Instructions

 

• Boil your jelly jars and lids for 1 minute. Set them on a clean cloth and set aside.
• Protect your hands with rubber gloves while you:

  Stem and halve all the peppers, and remove all the seeds. Chop the peppers really fine, either by pulsing in a food processor, or mincing, or a fine dice with a knife.

  For every cup of peppers, you will need 1/4 cup of vinegar, and one cup of sugar.

  Discard any extra peppers that do not make a cup. Do not make more than 4 cups of jelly at a time.
• Put the chopped peppers and the vinegar in the 10 to 12 quart pot. You must have exactly 4 cups.

  Measure your 4 cups of sugar and set aside.

  Stir in 4 TBLS. of pectin into the peppers.

  Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. This means that no matter how much you stir it, it doesn't stop bubbling.

  Stir in the sugar quickly. Keep stirring and bring it back to a full rolling boil.

  Boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

  Ladle into your jars, filling to within 1/8 inch from the top. Screw the bands on tightly.
• I keep jelly jars in a dark cool area of my basement until I open them, or give them away. Once you open them, you will need to keep the jelly in the refrigerator.

Notes

Myra’s notes on making jelly:

Use one cup of sugar for every cup of juice or peppers.

1 TBLS. of pectin for every cup of juice or peppers.

Stir the pectin into juice or peppers that are cool, then boil it.

Never make more than 4 cups at a time.

Myra always put a drop of green food coloring in her pepper jelly to make it that vibrant green. 

Keyword cider vinegar, jalapeno, pectin, sugar