Back in the Saddle: Hot Pepper Jelly

Someone commented to me that apparently I was no longer writing a blog, and it struck me that it has been a bit since I've written. My bad. I'm back.

Phil took M camping on Memorial Day weekend, which left me and T home to entertain ourselves. After a five-hour marathon at the Indianapolis Children's Museum, where he played with all three of the Thomas the Tank Engine railroad setups, followed the next day by a visit to a toy store so he could play with yet another Thomas the Tank Engine railroad, I was itching for a little non-Useful Engine time. So while he watched a Thomas video, I made some hot pepper jelly using hot peppers and bell peppers I'd bought at the farmer's market on Saturday.

This is one of my favorites. The red and green color of the peppers actually makes it a great holiday gift, if you're so inclined. I tend to horde it all, myself. This is great on cornbread with chili, as well as a nice glaze for chicken or fish. Also, if guests come over unexpectedly and start acting peckish, you can whip up a super-quick appetizer: Spread cream cheese on a plate, top with the hot pepper jelly, and serve with crackers. This, like the Rhubarb Marmalade recipe I posted in the spring, is a perfect first canning project.

Hot Pepper Jelly

1/2 cup finely diced hot peppers
1/2 cup finely diced bell peppers
6-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 3-oz. package liquid pectin (Cert-o or Ball brand are the ones I know)

Sterilize 7 or 8 half-pint canning jars and their lids. They will also have rings that go hold the lids in place, but these just need to be clean, not sterilized. To sterilize, stick them in boiling water for several minutes. Meanwhile...

Mix the peppers, sugar, and apple cider in a good-sized non-reactive pan. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and boil gently for about 7 minutes, give or take a minute, stirring frequently. The little peppers will get limp and the sugar will be dissolved. Pour in the liquid pectin and and boil for another 60 seconds, stirring constantly; the pectin helps firm up ("set") the jelly.

Spoon the hot jelly into the sterilized canning jars, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the jar; you don't want to fill it all the way to the top of the jar, or the jar won't be able to seal. Also, if any jelly gets around the rim of the jar, wipe it clean or the jar won't seal. Put the dome lids on the canning jars and screw on the lid bands. To seal the jars, either flip them upside down for about ten minutes, and then flip them back, or process them in a water-bath canner (a big pot that is made for canning and has a unit that lifts the jars out easily).

Because I wanted to be sure these would seal, I processed them in a water-bath canner, but the flip-over method would have been fine.

Total, this took me about 30 minutes, and made just about seven half-pint jars of jam. We've already opened the first of them; the jelly is sweet but a little tangy -- a really nice combination.

One aesthetic note: Try for a nice mix of color. If you're using only jalapenos for the hot peppers, then use red bell peppers. If you're using red hot peppers, using green bell peppers. The mix of colors is pretty.

It's early morning and T just started squawking. So I need to go, get him out from under his Thomas quilt, smooth his Thomas jammies, and no doubt find the Thomas engine that he likes to grip while falling asleep, which always falls under his bed during the night. We'll see you on the Island of Sodor.

Rhubarb!

Choice of free cookbook (I'll send you a list to choose from, and even ship it) to the first person who e-mails me (cindy_kitchel AT yahoo.com) with the name of the sportscaster who used this phrase when excited by a play.

Last summer my parents brought us about 12 rhubarb plants. A few didn't make it, but several did, and this year I got my first harvest. A small one, but enough to make some marmalade and a pending crisp.

My mom, however, has been overtaken by their plants. I'm packing up the boys this weekend to head to Michigan where they'll have a lovefest with my brother's two boys. If you've ever been around four boys, ages 10 to 2, running, sweating, laughing, and getting grubby, you know that it's a nice little break. My mom and I have plans to set them all loose, putting out sandwiches and juice every now and again, and otherwise get to work on that rhubarb.

Which means I'm pulling out my 1962 Home and Garden, lazy recipe for making rhubarb marmalade. My guess is that this was whipped up in between shaking martinis, gabbing with the neighbors, and checking out Jackie O's latest pillbox hat. The steps are super simple, and there's hours between them, so it's very low pressure. The finished marmalade is unbelievably good melting on a hot English muffin or some good hearty bread. Even if you've never "put up," as they say, jams, you can do this. It's a great way to learn how to can without dealing with all the mucky-muck of a complex recipe.

Rhubarb Marmalade for the Very Lazy

2 pounds, chopped into 1-inch pieces (this equals about six cups)
Grated rind of 2 lemons
4 cups of sugar
Juice of 2 lemons

Put on your frilly apron and take a sip of your martini. Now, in a non-reactive bowl, mix the rhubarb, lemon rind, and sugar. Stir it around really good. Go back to your martini. Have a pitcher. You're done with the marmalade for the evening.

In the morning, sterilize about six 8-ounce canning jars, lids, and rings. You'll probably only need five, but it's better to have more than you need than less. If you've never done this before, see the notes below.

Now, as you're finishing your third cup of coffee, pour the marmalade, which will now be pretty wet and oozy, into a pot. Over medium-high heat, bring the marmalade to a low boil and cook it until it thickens up a bit. This will take maybe 10 minutes. As it's cooking, you need to stir it constantly (I use a wooden spoon so it doesn't get hot), but you can easily do this absent-mindedly with one hand while using the other to hold a novel.

When the marmalade seems to have thickened up, carefully spoon it into prepared jars, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace (in other words, fill it to about 1/2 inch from the top of the jar). Put a lid on the jar, screw on the band, and flip the jar over. Because the marmalade was boiling hot when you added it to the jar, you don't need to worry with water baths and canners and such. Just flip the jar over. Do this with all the jars until the marmalade is gone.

In about 10 minutes, flip the jars back upright. Over the next 30 or so minutes you'll hear little *ping!* sounds as the dome lids pop down and the jars seal themselves. If any lids don't pop down and seal, just refrigerate the offending jars and use those first. The rest can go in the pantry and won't need to be refrigerated until you open them.

A couple notes:

• My friend Kitty and I, many years ago, made a killer Rhubarb-Lime-Ginger Marmalade. Did we write down the recipe? No, we did not (she says, shaking her fist at the heavens). But you could add some fresh grated ginger and use limes instead of lemons and taste periodically during the cooking to see if you like the taste. The three tastes together were something else: comforting and fresh and tart.
• To sterilize the jars, wash them thoroughly and them boil them in water for about five minutes or, alternatively, run them through the dishwasher. I know people who have not sterilized jars and lived to tell the tale, but I'm quite a freak about the idea of any kind of food poisoning, so I always sterilize the jars -- especially if I'm using the flip-over method for sealing the jars.
• To sterilize the lids, either boil them in a little pan of water for a few minutes. As an alternative, microwave some water in a glass container until the water starts to boil, and then take the glass container out anddrop the lids into the water for a few minutes.
• If you're just not that into the idea of canning, just make a half batch and put it into the fridge immediately.
• If you'd like to learn more about canning, check out this site: http://www.homecanning.com/usa/ALBasics.asp. I learned to can maybe ten years ago (I was making some pumpkin butter when I heard about Princess Diana's death, if that dates it). The first time was intimidating, and after that, I was hooked.