Hot Pepper Jelly

It's canning season!  I love the Public Market in Rochester- I came home last week with a grocery bag full of Hungarian Hot and Jalapeno Peppers for under $5.

So far this year we've canned 6 kinds of salsa, a batch of peaches, and Garlicky green beans.  While the canning materials were out we decided to use up the hot peppers and try a new recipe- hot pepper jelly.

What do you do with it, you ask?  It can be used on fish.  Or pork.  Or with cream cheese on crackers.  Or as a dip for coconut shrimp.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups finely chopped red or green hot peppers
1 small sweet bell pepper finely chopped
1 1/2 cup white vinegar (5% acidity)
6 cups sugar
6 oz Certo pouch (Sure-Jell fruit pectin)
1 teaspoon red food coloring, optional 

DIRECTIONS

Coarsely chop peppers with seeds and place in blender with vinegar, sugar and pulse to mix well. Transfer to pot, add butter and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Cook for 5 minutes at a steady boil. 

Quickly add Certo and coloring. Allow mixture to return to a boil and cook for 3 more minutes stirring a few times. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Put into half pint jars and seal in water bath for 10 minutes. This should make about 7 jars with a little left over. 

VERDICT

Our first batch was the red batch(made with the Hungarian Hot peppers.  The verdict?  Delicious.  I can't wait to try it on pork!

As for the green (jalapeno) version... it's not so pretty.  But it's still good, and a LOT spicier.

Homemade apple sauce

There is nothing like homemade apple sauce this time of year.  You can make it all start to finish- including picking the apples- in a few hours and have natural, no preservative filled apple sauce to last you the rest of the year.

I didn't pick the apples we used for this batch.  Although it's picking season here, I picked up a bag at the Public Market to use.  For $5 for a 1/2 bushel (about 20 pounds!!) we had enough to make two batches of apple sauce with a dozen apples left over for eating.

This recipe is not only delicious, but the house smells heavenly for the rest of the day!

INGREDIENTS

12 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

3 cups water

1 cup white sugar (brown works too!)

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

After peeling and coring the apples, roughly chop them (into 3-4 pieces is fine).  Mix all ingredients together in a large pot and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

After 20 minutes the apples should be very soft.  You can mash them to desired consistency either with a fork or a potato masher.  Store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or up to a year in the freezer. 

VERDICT

  

So easy.  So good.   Why buy the jarred stuff?