Jalapeno Jelly

Actually, I'm not too crazy about jalapenos--or any other pepper--but my son is growing them this year, and he gave me some. I felt obliged to do something with them, so I made jelly and surprised myself--it's good! Also, it's easy, especially if you use the plastic freezer containers--see my notes at the end.

JALAPENO PEPPER JELLY

Yield: 5 half pints

12 oz jalapeno peppers (about 12 medium, but you really need to weigh)
2 C cider vinegar, divided
6 C sugar
2 (3-oz) pouches liquid fruit pectin
green food coloring (optional)

Remove all or a portion of the seeds and veins for a milder flavor or leave some or all whole for hot. Be sure there is a total weight of 12 oz peppers after prepping.

Puree peppers in a food processor or blender with 1 cup cider vinegar until smooth. Do not strain puree. Combine puree with remaining vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add both pouches pectin all at once. Continue hard boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Immediately ladle into containers and let cool before capping and refrigerating.

(I reserved and finely minced some of the peppers to add to the puree before boiling. I used a combination of red and green peppers, and the color was a nice reddish brown, so I did not add food coloring.)

NOTE: I used the Ball half-pint plastic containers which I soaked in water with a little bleach. I did not do the glass jar/processing thing. In the plastic jars the jelly will keep 3 weeks in the fridge or one year in the freezer.

The only benefit of doing the heat processing that I can discern is that the product will keep one year on the shelf and does not need to be stored in the freezer. That would be important if you were doing a large quantity and did not have freezer space, but this recipe just makes 5 half pints (5 cups), and they are easily tucked somewhere in the freezer. Besides, it's so good you will probably want to give some away. Just tell your recipients to refrigerate it (or freeze if it won't be consumed in 3 weeks.)

ANOTHER NOTE: Do not change any of the quantities in this recipe or it might not gel. So, even if you think you don't need that much sweetness, you really do need that much sugar for it to do its thing.

--pen