Hot Red Pepper Jelly

A few years ago, I posted my recipe for Pepper jelly, which has been a favorite in our house for a very long time. It works up quickly and easily, and provides a lot of flavor – super addictive recipe!

This year, when I went on my big pickling binge … I decided it was time to bastardize the recipe a bit, as an alternative option. Don’t get me wrong, I still made a big 4x batch of the original this year – but sometimes, you just want a bit more kick, you know? Oh, this stuff is amazing. As with the original, this will make about 6 jam jar’s worth of jelly, so plan accordingly! This jelly is particularly awesome poured over a slab of cream cheese and served with crackers. Quick and easy entertaining, or a lazy gorge-fest dinner for two… whatever! Enjoy!

Hot Red Pepper Jelly

2 red bell peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
2 (red) serrano peppers
1-2 orange habanero pepper
1.5 cups vinegar
6 cups sugar
1 pouch liquid pectin

Remove stems, cores, and seeds from all peppers, chop into large chunks. Put all peppers in food processor, process till finely chopped.

Put peppers and vinegar into pot, bring to boil. After 1 minute, turn temperature down and simmer another 15 mins.

Strain peppers for juice (I lined a metal colander with a 2 layers of cheese cloth). *

In the pot, add sugar to strained pepper juice. Turn heat up to medium-high, and stir constantly while bringing it to a rapid boil.

Remove from heat, add pectin. Stir well.

Pour jelly into sterilized jars, leaving about 1/8 inch space on top. Wipe rims, place lids on top of each, and affix the rings. Process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Allow jars to cool.

Check each jar to make sure it sealed properly. The middle of the lid should have been sucked down. Jars that haven’t sealed properly should be stored in the fridge and eaten relatively soon (within 2 weeks). This won’t be a problem

Tighten all lids. Jelly should keep for around a year, but it very likely won’t be around that long!

* After straining the juice, I thought it was a shame to have just a plain, clear jelly. I reserved the colorful peppers at this point, and re-added them just before I added the pectin. You can choose to have pepper pieces in your jelly or not!