Thursday Recipe - Hot Pepper Jelly

You know that red jelly stuff that goes great on cream cheese? It's hot pepper jelly and it's so easy to make. Our local WinCo had peppers on sale. The green bells were actually the most expensive, so I went hog wild and bought a whole pile of red ones, some orange and yellow ones, and a couple of green ones. Then I picked up some jalapeños, because they were on sale, too. Then I came home and made hot pepper jelly. The hardest part was chopping them up.

Now I have eight pints of it in my cupboard. That should last me about a month, maybe, if I hide half of them behind the pickles...

Serve this with crackers and cream cheese for a delicious snack.

Hot Pepper Jelly

6 bell peppers (red ones are traditional, but feel free to use whatever color you want)
6 jalapeño peppers
1 c. vinegar
1 box pectin
5 c. sugar

Place 4 pint canning jars in a sink full of really hot water.

Wash the peppers. Remove the top and seeds. Then pulse in the food processor, or finely chop, them. You should end up with about 5 c. of peppers.

Place the chopped peppers, vinegar and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Once it is at a good boil, dump in the sugar. Keep stirring until it comes to a full rolling boil. This is when it foams up and doesn't stop boiling when you stir it. Boil and stir for one full minute. Remove from heat.

Drain the water out of the jars and fill with the hot jelly. Wipe the rims and either seal them using a water bath or your favorite canning method, or put a lid on them and keep in the fridge.

Makes about 4 pints of jelly.

If you like it hotter, use more jalapeños and fewer bells. If you like it milder, use fewer jalapeños. This proportion gave me the heat I prefer - just a little on the spicy side.