Hot Pepper Jelly. Plus (Surprise) Syrup. Oops.
My first jelly. Hooray! And (for better or worse) another example of how an “oops” can become a win. I set out to make Hot Pepper Jelly and (eventually) ended up with a delicious jelly AND a tasty syrup.
Hot Pepper Jelly
This all began with the Food in Jars online Mastery Challenge. Every month challenge participants make a new kind of preserve—January was marmalade and February salt-curing. Hot Pepper Jelly was my March pick.
My inspiration for this was the classic cream cheese and hot pepper jelly appetizer, served at a recent party. Creamy, sweet and spicy, I kept going back for more!
Hot Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese Appetizer
I started out on the internet looking for a recipe that was lower in sugar and ended up at The View from Great Island. I had all the ingredients including a jar of a different low/no sugar pectin than she used. But I figured since it was a low sugar recipe it would be okay.
Famous last words.
Turns out that Sure-Jell and Ball low/no-sugar pectins need to have ingredients added in a different order (see Chickens in the Road for more detail.) Who would have thought?
And so, after cooking, and water bath canning, my jelly remained a syrup. Though the flavor was outstanding.
But all was not lost…
Hot Pepper Jelly
How I remade the jelly that didn’t set
My youngest (always a ray of sunshine) wandered by as I stood, dismayed, by the jars and suggested we use the syrup on egg rolls or crab Rangoon (which we did—yum!). But I still wanted my jelly.
So, I left two jars as syrup and decided to try reprocessing the rest. Based partly on Food in Jars instructions for fixing jam and partly on general reading, I took a couple tablespoons of Meyer lemon juice (to add pectin) and another tablespoon of powdered pectin, opened the syrupy rejects and boiled it all together until thickened. Used the freezer test to check (drop a bit of jelly on a small plate that’s been in the freezer awhile and see if it thickens) that it really was working.
Hot Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese Appetizer
After reprocessing in a boiling water bath and letting cool I did indeed have jelly. And I made my own pepper jelly cream cheese spread for my next dinner party (an 8 ounce package of lite cream cheese, topped with a 4 ounce jar of hot pepper jelly)!
And the moral of the story is… Pectin is not pectin is not pectin. So, always read the instructions on your specific brand and adjust your recipe accordingly.
I should caution that (I hear) re-processing a fruit based jelly or jam can sometimes result in an overly cooked flavor. I consider myself lucky to have made the mistake on a hot pepper jelly!
For more information on learning how to can, see the Food in Jars or Ball websites.
Hot Pepper Jelly
- • 8 jalapeno peppers or 4 thai hot peppers (or combination—I used 4 jalapenos and 2 thai)
- • 12 oz assorted colorful bell peppers (weighed after trimming)
- • 2 cups white or cider vinegar (not homemade, which won’t have a standardized acidity level)
- • 3 cups sugar
- • 1 box (1.75 oz) no/low sugar needed pectin
- Wash the hot peppers and trim the stem end off, but do not de-seed. Process in a food processor until finely minced or chop very finely wearing kitchen gloves. (Hot pepper oils can sting, so avoid touching to skin or mucus membranes; fumes can also be irritating to breathe.) Add chopped peppers to a large saucepan.
- Wash bell peppers, removing ribs, stem and seeds. Process in batches in a food processor until finely minced. Add the bell peppers to the saucepan and top with the vinegar.
- Read the directions on your low or no sugar pectin and add sugar and pectin in the order specified by that brand. Currently for low/no sugar sure-jell: add the sugar to the pot and stir to combine. Bring the pot up to a full rolling boil (so it stays boiling if you stir), and then add the pectin. Boil, stirring, for one more minute. For Ball low/no sugar: add the pectin to the pot and stir to combine. Bring the pot up to a full rolling boil (so it stays boiling if you stir), and then add the sugar. Boil, stirring, for one more minute. And because the formulations are subject to change, always double check your package instructions.
- Ladle the hot liquid into clean jars, cap, and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes (see note) according to standard canning practices. Alternatively let cool, cap and refrigerate, and use up within a week or so.
- Makes about 4 cups.
- This assumes that you are already familiar with basic canning techniques. See the earlier links for more information
When serving appetizers, always fun to use a fancy, colorful plate vs. an old baking pan. To serve, gently cut the cream cheese log in half, place the half in middle of 9 inch plate. Then, pour the hot pepper jelly over the cream cheese…..it will pool around the cream cheese. Buttery Ritz crackers are a plus and voila, there’s your attractive appetizer.
Much better idea on presentation Smitty! Perhaps I will try that for one of my upcoming holiday parties!
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I love hot pepper jelly and have used in various way…and I am loving the idea of the jelly on cream cheese…
I hope you are having a wonderful week Inger 🙂
If you get a chance, I’d love to hear how else you use it Juliana. I am thinking this may be a regular winter canning recipe!
I love when little errors become big problems and then become bonuses! We’ve all done it! I love pepper jelly!
I felt quite fortunate in this case David! AND happy to have discovered pepper jelly!
This look really amazing !!
Thanks Gloria. I am so happy I stepped outside my comfort zone here!
i LOVE hot pepper jelly and am so glad you were able to save some of it! i’ll also say that a hot pepper syrup sounds pretty darn tasty too. 🙂
It really was a lucky accident Grace (for once)!
I’m so glad it all worked out in the end ~ pectin can be a BEAR! Your jelly and cheese looks amazing, I could eat the whole pan 🙂
Thanks Sue. And I so appreciate you sharing your recipe–we all loved it! Even as syrup on the crab rangoon!
Hi Inger, your story sounds similar to mine I made a white wine lavender jelly, which in the end we loved, I also made a grape jelly which I tried to over-correct and it turned out like plastic.
Love the color of your pepper jelly, gorgeous. I learned that jelly making is hard;)
take care, Cheri
You know now that you mention lavender, I did make a jelly before–violet from the lawn violets. That one worked perfectly–must have been beginners luck. I’ll have to get on over to your blog to read about your adventure! White wine lavender sounds like heaven!