Pepper Jelly

I planted jalapenos in my garden this year. I also planted tomatoes so I had plans to make salsa. Well, I over watered my tomatoes and they died. Well, I thought they died, but they've made a little bit of a comeback and I might get a total of two Roma tomatoes this year. Long story short, I wont be making salsa. Well, the jalapenos didn't die so I still needed some way to use them up. I decided to try to can some pepper jelly. I used this recipe from Like Mother, Like Daughter.  I converted the recipe to use powdered pectin instead of liquid pectin. I'll be honest this jelly turned out really, really thick, but I didn't level out my tablespoons of pectin so that means I added a little extra pectin. I'm also a bad judge of when I consider liquid to be boiling so I'm fairly certain I boiled my jelly too long.  Now being too thick isn't a major catastrophe. I just stick my jar in the microwave  for 20-30 seconds to melt it to a spreadable consistency.  I have found this jelly to be very delicious. It's great on crackers, on crackers with cream cheese, on egg sandwiches, and with baked brie (recipe to come).

Pepper Jelly

• 1/2 cup jalapenos, seeds removed and finely diced 
• 1/4 cup bell pepper, seeds removed and finely diced 
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tablespoon Powdered Pectin
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 8 oz canning jars

Measure out sugar and set aside. In a large pan combine the peppers, vinegar, sugar and pectin.With heat at medium high, bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Add entire 3 cups of sugar to mixture at once. Stirring constantly, bring mixture backup to a full boil that cannot be stirred down. Continue to boil for one minute, then remove from heat.  

Ladle jelly into jars leaving 1/2 head space. Process in a water-bath caner for 10 minutes *adjusting for altitude. 

*1,000-3,000 ft add 5 minutes
3,000-6,000 ft add 10 minutes
6,000-8,000 ft add 15 minutes
8,000-10,00 ft add 20 minutes