Working on my weekend six but first a question about hot pepper jelly...

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
I bought a bunch of jalapenos over a week ago, big gorgeous ones at the farmers market. Well by the time I got to them this morning they had turned mostly red. Does this mean the heat index increased? I have never made pepper jelly before and have been wanting to for a while. I was told by a long time pepper jelly maker that the only way to go is with liquid pectin and use only jalapenos, no bell peppers. So I found the Ball recipe and it is REALLY easy to make. The recipe suggested for a bit of heat to tie the seeds in cheesecloth and add them for the first boil. So I did. Well, jelly is done and it is quite hot. Definitely edible but hot.

My question is will this mellow with time, increase or stay the same?

 
I have used jalapeno's as well as the hot hungarian peppers in jam. I have found that it mellows w/

age, that is just my experience... BUT, i typically do not use just peppers. I often add the peppers to a fruit jam, ie raspberry pepper jam, etc. Good tip re: liquid pectin. One batch I made last year ended up being more of a sauce. I used powder... that could have been the reason.

My biggest challenge w/ jalapenos and hot peppers is the impact on my nose / fingers! I have learned to purchase disposable gloves when working with the peppers for an extended period of time....

I am impressed that you can just "whip up" a batch of jam to use up your peppers. I tend to over think it, I guess....In other words, it is an event and a mess in my kitchen!! Lasts hours!

 
Thanks Barb. Mellowing just a bit would be a good thing. I can easily eat it off a

spoon and not be on fire but I think most would like it not quite as hot.

A question for you, when you add to fruit jams, how do you do it? Do you just stir in some finely chopped peppers into the jam you are making? Sounds delicious!

 
red jalepeno peppers are typically both hotter and sweeter but a better check for heat

are the stretchmarks on the pepper. Look closely at your peppers. The ones that are perfectly smooth will have the least heat. The ones with stretchmarks will be hotter. So you could have a green one that is hotter than a red. Also the heat is concentrated in the seeds. The soft flesh next to the seeds is the hottest part of the flesh. If you want to increase the heat, add the seeds /Decrease, remove the seeds.

 
Most of the jalape

peppers with no heat designed supposedly for anglo tastes. The rounder the point of the pepper the more likely it is to be a mild hybrid. I personally find it incredibly frustrating to add some fresh jalapeño to something for some heat only to find I might as well have added bell pepper. I don't like to sub serranos because I dislike the way they smell and they are a sharper and less mellow heat than "real" jalpenos. Thanks a lot Texas A&M!

 
didn't know that about the rounded point. Thanks I will keep a look out for that

 
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