Bottling or canning your own foods can be an enormously rewarding way to stock your pantry shelves. Jams and jellies are the easiest place to start if you are a beginner. When I lived in WA, I used to pick tons of blackberries and strawberries to make into jams and jellies. Here in AZ, it’s a bit easier to make jelly out of peppers. Have you tried pepper jelly? Besides being good on a hot roll, it is great on a cracker with cream cheese or sharp cheddar. It makes a fabulous glaze for a roast. It can be used in a sauce for meatballs. Really, it is quite a versatile jelly.
1. Info for Homemade Pepper Jelly
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: unavailable
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Homemade Pepper Jelly
- 12 hot red peppers (about 3 cups)
- 4 sweet red peppers
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 10 cups sugar
- 1¼ cups certo (3 pouches liquid pectin)
3. Directions:
- Wear gloves when handling hot peppers!!!!
- Blend peppers and vinegar in a blender until pureed.
- Combine pepper mixture and sugar in a large kettle and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 8 minutes.
- Add certo and bring to a rolling boil.
- Boil for 1 minute.
- Skim foam off the top of the jelly.
- Pour into sterilized jam jars, filling to within ¼ inch of the top.
- Place lids on top and screw on bands.
- Place into a boiling water bath.
- Water must cover jars by 2 inches.
- Add more boiling water to the kettle if needed to completely cover jars.
- Cover kettle and process 10 minutes if below 1000 feet sea level.
- Increase time 5 minutes if 1001-3000 feet above sea level, 3001-6000 feet add 10 minutes, 6001-8000 feet add 15 minutes and above 8000 feet add 20 minutes more.
- Jelly will not set up until it is completely cooled.