A happy day for canners!!
I just picked my first batch of RED jalapeños! The plants are still loaded with green ones so fingers crossed I can get another 2 - 3 batches for Jalapeño Pepper Jelly!! It takes 3/4 of a pound (about 12 medium) per batch.
Last time I made any was year before last & the JPJ lovers were begging me for it to no avail last year (I was moving, no garden). This year, I have been getting jelly jars returned from former giftees .... big ‘hint’ I think :-)
The jalapeños are Jalafuegos & I have never grown them before. Fuego is Spanish for ‘fire’ ... jelly might be a little extra spicy this year!
I clean the peppers of seeds & membranes, chop them up & put them in the food processor with a 2 cups of vinegar (amount called for in jelly recipe), then pulse a couple of times until the pepper bits are the size I like to see in the jelly. The mixture then goes into a quart canning jar & I keep them in the fridge.
Once I have 2-4 jars, it’s canning time. I don’t like dragging my canning pot & equipment out any more than I have to, so if I can do several batches in an afternoon, it works for me. The vinegar holds the peppers from spoiling & all I have to do is dump a jar in the pot, heat it up & go from there with Sure Jell & sugar. I love the ‘pop’ of those jelly jars sealing! :-)
“I don’t like dragging my canning pot & equipment out any more than I have to...”
Exactly! That’s why I try to concentrate it to August and September - then All The Fruits come in, in September/October.
I told Beau tonight that our Kitchen and Dining Room currently look like a Superfund Site, LOL!
I used a few of my ‘Bonnie Brand’ Jalapenos in the V-8, today. But I will still have plenty more for Poppers. :)