Jalapeño Jelly

Delightfully sweet with a surprising little kick of spicy heat with the spectacular color of this season. What a fun and delicious gift for the holidays!

I’ve started the process of making jams and jellies for holiday gift giving. This year I decided to pull out an old recipe for Jalapeño Jelly. I first made this unique jelly one summer when Emily was quite young. As a novelty I decided to plant jalapeño peppers in my garden and found these little peppers are quite prolific.

I had peppers by the dozens and one can only do so much with them. I gave them away, pickled them but still I had dozens of peppers. So, I decided to make jelly.

You can make jalapeño jelly using either green or red peppers. The only difference between the two is the age of the peppers. As peppers continue to ripen, they will turn red and will sweeten slightly but still have that heat. To the jalapeño peppers add bell peppers, sugar, vinegar, a bit of water and liquid pectin.

If you like a milder jelly, remove most of the seeds from the jalapeños, then process the peppers until finely chopped. You can add the seeds from the bell peppers to add visual interest to the jelly without all the extra heat.

Jalapeño pepper jelly makes a great glaze when grilling or roasting chicken or pork and even is a bright substitute for mint jelly when serving lamb. But one of the most popular ways to serve jalapeño jelly is alongside goat or cream cheese, smeared on a crisp cracker.

It’s a lovely and tantalizing holiday appetizer!

Jalapeño Jelly

Green jalapeño peppers are the most common but you can on occasion find red peppers. If you want to make a red jelly, use both red jalapeño and red bell peppers.

8 to 10 jalapeños peppers, about 1 cup chopped

1 to 1-½ large bell pepper, about 1 cup chopped

5 cups sugar

1-¼ cup cider, white or white wine vinegar

½ cup water

1 teaspoon butter

6 ounces liquid pectin, 1 box with two 3-ounce packages

Trim the stem end of the jalapeño pepper, then cut them in half and remove the pith and majority of the seeds, leaving only a small amount for a touch of heat. If you want the appearance of seeds in your jelly but with minimal heat you can add the seeds from the bell pepper.

Process the peppers in a food processor until they are finely chopped, about 10 to 15 seconds. You should have 1 cup of chopped jalapeño peppers.

Remove the stem and trim the bell pepper.

Cut into pieces and process until finely chopped, about 10 to 15 seconds. You’ll have about 1 cup of chopped bell peppers. Transfer the chopped peppers to a large kettle or stockpot.

Add the sugar, vinegar, water and butter. Stir to blend together.

Cook over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally – about 15 to 20 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and bring the jelly to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes then remove the kettle from the heat and let the jelly set for 20 minutes.

Stir the liquid pectin into the jelly and return the pan to medium heat. Bring the jelly back to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Ladle the jelly into sterilized jars and keep the jam refrigerated or process the jars in a water bath following the jar manufacturers directions.

Makes about 6 half-pint jars with some left over.

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