We have been collecting peppers for weeks now with the sweet memory of last fall’s pepper jelly in mind. A small jar was gifted to us from our friends, a woman called Michal and a man called Jay. They work and live at this very special farm that does sort of extraordinary stuff in Monterey, Mass. And they grew, to our great fortune, a handsome crop of jalapenos in their personal garden whence this jelly was born.
But it has been no easy task locating a proper recipe for our own. Surely, we could have asked Michal and Jay for theirs. (They used the preserving book referenced in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle — the name escapes me, but the proportions were all different and, more importantly, our pepper collection was all different.) We
found these bizarre recommendations on the interwubz, calling for 6 cups of sugar to every 1 cup of minced pepper (NO), others that encouraged the use of food coloring (WHY?) and approximately zero that offered flexible proportions in a pectin-free scenario (FUCK PECTIN). Seriously, people were preserving long before pectin was commercially produced. Plus, it costs money, its origins are mysterious and we had these perfect apples from Stillman’s in the kitchen — a natural source of pectin to use in its place.
In the end we pieced together our own recipe and are, presently, hoping for the best. Just an hour or so later, it appears to be setting.
Here’s what we did. You may do this too, but no guarantees.
Ingredients
- Lots of bell peppers, of various colors and sizes. Once minced in our food processor, they totaled 4 cups
- Minced habaneros (or anything hot, it seems) with the interior flesh and seeds removed — 1 cup (about 6)
- 3 WHOLE apples (cores and all), sliced
- 3 cups of sugar
- 4 1/2 cups of white vinegar
Throw everything in a pot. Bring to a boil. Let it simmer (on medium heat) for about 25-30 minutes, or until the apple starts to fall apart. It will not look like jelly yet! Meanwhile, get the canner boiling, prep your jars. Pour the mix in when the jars are hot, seal ‘em and process for 10 minutes. These quantities filled nine 8 oz jars with a tiny bit leftover. It’s in our fridge now. It’s pretty friggin hot, but also delicious.
Editor’s note: be mindful of your hands when dealing with the hot peppers. If you neglect to use caution, you will surely regret it later, during an intimate moment with yourself or someone else.