Spicy Red Pepper Jelly
- 2 cups sweet red bell peppers processed, but not pulverized
- 1 large jalapeno pepper processed but not pulverized--seeds removed
- 5 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar must be high acid vinegar (5%)
- 13 cup lemon juice
- 1 envelope liquid pectin a 'Certo' liquid pectin pouch works best
- Slice the peppers into fair-sized chunks and process them in small batches so that they aren't ground into a paste, but still have texture.
- This is a rustic jelly--more like a jam--so you don't want to pulverize the peppers.
- Two cups is the perfect amount.
- (If you want a very spicy taste, add another jalapeno.)
- Place your processed peppers, the sugar and vinegar in a pot and heat quite rapidly to boiling while stirring continuously;
- Once brought to the boil, remove the pot from the heat and let stand for fifteen (15) minutes.
- This is a good time to heat your jar lids to near boiling, then turn off and keep hot--at the same time, get your jars to the boiling point as well;
- Reheat peppers to boiling, then add your lemon juice.
- Let it come back to boiling, and add your liquid pectin;
- Once again, bring it all to boiling.
- Let it gently boil, while stirring constantly for five whole minutes.
- Then turn it off and let it sit.
- Turn your attention to the canning process: make sure your jars are in boiling hot, but calm water--and make sure the lids are in almost-boiling water.
- Place a rack next to your pepper jelly mixture;
- With tongs, lift out one jar and empty it of water, and bring it over to the rack next to your pepper mix.
- Using a ladle, stir into your jelly and begin filling your jar, leaving about 1" of air below the rim.
- With a toothpick, or plastic knife, eliminate any bubbles on the surface, and using a clean cloth, wipe the rim free of any jelly;
- Place lid cover on rim and screw the rest on gently, (not tightly) and return the filled jar to the boiling water using your tongs.
- Fill and seal each of the six jars in this way, until they are all sitting on the rack in your large, boiling-water pot;
- Make sure there is at least 1" of water above your sealed jars.
- Put the lid on the pot and bring the water to the boil, and then boil it all for ten minutes;
- After ten minutes of continuous boiling, carefully lift each jar out and onto a rack.
- Listen carefully for the sound of the lid vacuum-sealing when it hits the cool air--it is a little popping sound as the lid warps inwardly.
- EACH JAR MUST WARP INWARDLY AND MAKE THIS LITTLE SOUND or it possibly didn't vacuum seal properly.
- Crouch down and examine each lid.
- If each is slightly indented, it is vacuum-sealed and can be stored for several months on a shelf, no problem.
- If you have any question about one of them, open it up, make sure there's a good 1" of air below the clean rim, reseal, reboil, and listen again for the sound of the lid indenting.
- Screw your lids on more tightly;
- Label your jars and include a date on the label so your friends know when it was processed.
- Once you've done this recipe, you will see that your next batch goes along quite quickly--and you'll feel like a canning expert!
- one final note: if you bought a box of a dozen jars, it is better 2 make two batches of six than to attempt to double this recipe.
sweet red bell peppers, jalapeno pepper, sugar, white vinegar must, lemon juice, pouch works best
Taken from recipeland.com/recipe/v/spicy-red-pepper-jelly-50956 (may not work)