Hot & Tangy Pepper Relish

 My sister made some of this and shared it as an appetizer on a recent boat trip.  A block of cream cheese and a jar of spicy sweet relish was gone in wink.  Happy boaters all around. Everyone loved spread on a cracker.  What a simple appetizer to share, and ready in flash.

When we got home from vacation, I was still thinking about it, so I set out to buy a bunch of different peppers to give it a try.  Most of the recipes online used bell peppers, but I really didn't Spicy, sweet and tangy relish.  Perfect with a little cream cheese on a cracker, but would also be good with grilled meats, stirred into meatballs, on a slice of cheese, or even on a hot dog or hamburger if you are a sweet relish fan.

 (not pictured, 1 lime and the salt)

Makes 7-8 - 1 cup jars
Ingredients

4 cups chopped hot peppers (jalapenos, fresno, anaheim, habenero)
4 cups minced white onions (about 3 large onions)
4 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1 lime, juiced (optional)
1 tsp salt
(optional)

Chop the peppers, removing most of the seeds.  You can see below, I hold the stem in one hand and cut the pepper off of the seeds and membranes in the middle. It's easier than cutting them in half and scrapping out.  

Chop in a food processor until small. (photo below)

I had about 4 cups, but it was a little shy of the full amount.  That's Okay.
Chop the onions in the same manner.
 

In a pot over medium high heat, add the veggie mix plus all the sugar and vinegar. Stir and bring to a boil Cook over med high for 30-35 minutes.  Like the picture below, it will get a little thickened and glossy.

Fill hot sterilized jars, add the lid and the bands and process n a water bath for 10 minutes. Cool.  The contents will firm up a bit.  Here's a link to how to process canned jam/jelly/relish

I thought you might enjoy a picture of my set up.

Chocolate Raspberry Jam

It's hard to categorize this stuff...
Is it Jam? (on Chocolate Scone)
Or is it Sauce?
Maybe it could be Cake Filling?
Whatever~!
Maybe it's all THREE.

I saw this first on Pinterest. 
First thought?  Chocolate (???) Raspberry Jam?
How could that be?
I had to try it.
I even went and bought $20 worth of frozen raspberries so I could try it ASAP.
I made this before raspberry season was here, so I was happy to take the shortcut.
My advice?
Use what ya got.
You lucky enough to have fresh?  Use them.

Here's the original recipe, but I did change it. 
I used bittersweet chocolate that I had, instead of buying unsweetened chocolate, plus I used less sugar. My jam may be a bit softer, but it's very, very nice on ice cream, between a couple layers of chocolate cake before icing, or on Chocolate scones.

Ingredients
Makes about 8- 8 oz jars

8 cups frozen raspberries , crushed or 7 pints fresh raspberries

1 cup bittersweet chocolate, cut up

4 cups granulated sugar

1 pkg pectin

Crush berries thoroughly. If using frozen berries, use both liquid and solids; they were all part of the original fresh berry. 
 

Make sure your canning equipment is scrupulously clean, and place 7 pint or half-pint jars on a rack in a boiling water canner. Fill the canner with water, adding a shot of vinegar to prevent mineral buildup, and bring to a boil while you prepare the jam. Allow it to boil for 10 minutes to sterilize jars, then turn down the heat to keep the jars hot. Remember to keep a kettle of hot water handy, and a saucepan of boiling water for your lids and rings.

Measure 6 cups of crushed fruit into a 6-8 quart heavy nonreactive stockpot. Break the chocolate squares into smaller pieces and add them to the pan. Add sugar and bring to a boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly because scorched chocolate tastes yucky. Stir in liquid pectin. Bring quickly to a full rolling boil. Boil for EXACTLY 1 MINUTE, stirring constantly.

Remove pan from heat. Skim off any foam and ladle the jam into hot sterilized pint or half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Remove the jars to a towel/newspaper lined surface, invert for 10 minutes, and allow to cool. Label the jars and store in a cool dry place for up to 1 year.

NOTE-
You will find that it may take 1-2 weeks to thicken up as mine did.  I was going to redo this as I thought it was too thin, but left it alone and was quite happy with the thickness, and of course, the taste!!! 

Jams, Jellies & Pickles
Chipotle Nectarine Jam
Chocolate raspberry jam
Drunken Fig Jam
Honey and Lemon Jelly 
Pepper, Peach & Rosemary Jam
Strawberry Jam (No Pectin)
Strawberry Habanero Jam
Tomato Jalapeno Jelly

Drunken Fig Jam with Grand Marnier & Brandy

I'm sure you've seen it.

That really yummy, and expensive fig jam.
Well, this one is better and if you already have Grand Mariner and brandy, it's cheaper too.
Plus, if you wanted, you could use this jam as gifts; for the hostess, for the holidays, whatever.
I was a little sad that I gave so much of my first batch away, I wish I had kept more for myself.This stuff is so good with goat cheese, or Brie, or whatever salty rich cheese you like and crackers.
I look every time  we go to Costco.... looking, looking, searching for more of the fresh figs so I can make some more of this jam. I know the season is passed, but I keep looking.

I'm sure there are many other uses for drunken jam like this, but I can't get past it with goat cheese on a cracker.  Best stuff on earth.

Makes about 6-7 1 cup jars

Ingredients

4 cups figs, cut into 1/8's

4 cups sugar

2 lemons, zested and juiced (you could sub Orange's here- use 1/3 cup juice and 2 tsp zest)

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup brandy, or Courvoisier

1/3 cup of Grand Marnier

1 3 oz. packet of liquid pectin

Chop up the figs and throw in a large stock pot over medium high heat with the lemon juice, zest and the sugar over medium high heat.

Simmer with a rolling boil for about 10-15 minutes.  Stir and watch it, don't leave it unattended.  If it starts to look too thick, add the water and cook until the figs have started to break down.  Add the brandy and Grand Marnier.  When you add the booze, be careful, it does splatter around.  Best to turn off the heat and slowly add while stirring.  Bring back to a boil and add the liquid pectin and boil for ONE minute.

Honey and Lemon Jelly

My niece made some of this earlier this year and brought it to a family gathering.  Everyone loved it on fresh hot biscuits, but I can also imagine it on toast, cornbread, plain yogurt or with some fresh goat cheese. It's clean and refreshing, a delicious, classic combination. This recipe is all over on the Internet, but I found mine on Food.com. It's funny, you never really think of jelly made with anything but sugar, so just using honey is cool.

I had a bit of a mishap making this, so here's my advice; do not turn your back on the honey mixture when it's on the stove.  I turned my back to send a friend a text and my pot started to boil over.  Yikes, honey is more bubbly than you think and it makes a bit fat mess all over your stove.  If you pay more attention than I did, you will be fine.

This makes a great holiday gift, or something fun to bring as a hostess gift.

I bought the super big jug of honey at Costco, so I will probably make more jelly with this with some other variations:

• Add some fresh thyme to the honey and lemon mixture
• Use fresh grapefruit juice and rind (or tangerine or lime...)
• Use a combination of lemons and limes
• Add grated ginger and apple juice or ginger simple syrup

Makes 4 - 1 cup jars

5 -6 lemons (3/4 cup)
4 tsp lemon zest

2 1/2 cups honey

1 (3 ounce) package liquid pectin

Directions:

Grate rind from enough lemon zest to measure 4 teaspoons, set aside.

Squeeze juice from enough lemons to measure 3/4 cup, pour lemon through a wire mesh strainer, discarding seeds and pulp.

Combine rind, juice, and honey in a 6 quart saucepan, stirring well.

Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Quickly stir in pectin. Return mixture to a rolling boil and boil constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon.

Pour jelly into hot and sterilized jars, filling to 1/4 inch from top and wipe jar rims well. Cover with metal lids and screw on bands. Process jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 4 half pints.

Tomato Jalapeno Jelly

Don't worry about the amount of sugar in this, it's jam silly; it's what makes JAM, well JAM!
I recently made Strawberry Habanero Jam which is pretty terrific, if you are interested.
But, this jam recipe came out necessity of too many leftover tomatoes on hand, so since the season is almost upon us, I thought you'd better have this recipe too.

It's such a weird jam, I made this over 6 months ago, and just now I have decided to blog about it.  It's all because I have been giving jam to my daughter and her boyfriend and they have been loving the Tomato Jalapeno Jelly. Most people look at me with a freaked out look in their eye when you add tomato+jalapeno+jam in the same sentence.
I dunno,  I can't be the only one that likes savory/spicy/sweet together!?!

Try it on cornbread...
...or as a glaze on chicken or ribs
...or with BBQ sauce as a glaze for meatballs
...or even toast!

These is something compelling about spicy tomato jalapeno jelly!
I'm down to my last jar, but no worries, it's an easy one to make whatever the season!

I've pictured it above with good ole basic cornbread, but please, use it in so many ways to spice up your life.

Makes about 6 half pints
Ingredients

6 cups sugar
4 cups tomatoes, skin, seeds and all
2 lemons, quartered, skin, seeds and all
4-8 jalapenos, skin, seeds and all
2-3 garlic cloves, whole
3 oz. container of liquid pectin

I sure wish I could find the pictures I took while making it the first time.. it really showed how easy this was.  I added the tomatoes, whole chopped jalapenos, lemon and sugar to one pot and cooked it for about 30 minutes.  Then I strained it and brought it back up to temperature and added the liquid pectin.

Just rough chop everything, nothing fancy here. Throw it in a large pot with the sugar and bring it up to a boil on high heat.  When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.  With a spoon, get a look at the color of the liquid in the pot.  If it's not quite as red as you like, you could add a drop, or two, of red food color to make it an especially pretty jelly. It up to you.  My top photo doesn't have any food color, but I did add some to my next batch because it wasn't getting as red as I liked.

Remove from the heat, and let cool for a couple minutes.  This mixture is super hot and because it is sticky too, it would really, really burn you. PLEASE, be careful. 

Strain the mixture into another big stock pot (I know, I know, more pots to wash...). Be patient and let it drip through for about 15-20 minutes.  Don't press on the solids, or it will make your jelly cloudy and murky.

Here's my strained mixture.
Bring it back up to boil, then add the liquid pectin and boil for exactly one minute.

Fill into hot jars, top with lids and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Let cool.  The jelly will set overnight.
If you have a little leftover, but not enough to fill a while jar, just pour it into a small bowl and let it set up.  Use that stuff first!

Here's the box of Certo I used.  It costs about $3 and includes two packets of pectin for two different recipes. I love to make jam.

Like to make Jam and Jelly? Here' some other favorites!
Chipotle Nectarine Jam
Pepper, Peach & Rosemary Jam
Strawberry Jam (No Pectin)
Strawberry Habanero Jam
Hot and Tangy Pepper Relish

Strawberry Habanero Jam

It's strawberry season!  It really doesn't last that long for fresh local berries in season.  I know you can get them almost year round trucked in from other, warmer places.  But nothing compares with fresh, local berries.

I do buy them at local farmer's markets, but must admit I buy them at Costco in the big 4 lb pack of organic berries for $5.99.  It's just kind of hard to argue with that.  The thing I have learned, is you better buy them and then use them quick.  Strawberries are highly perishable, and there is nothing I hate more than waking up in the morning to yesterday's purchase of berries all molding on your counter!!!

I have made two batches of this jam in the last couple weeks.  The first was a bit of an experiment, and I did it without added pectin, and guess what?  I had about 6 jars of Strawberry Habanero SAUCE... not bad I guess, but not what I had in mind.  I had even canned them and processed them in a water bath, hoping eternally that it would miraculously thicken over night.  Nope... so I did it again. 
Opened up my newly canned jars, dumped it into a stock pot again and washed all the jars and got new tops ready to go... oh yeah,, and added 3 oz of the liquid pectin.  Success, and wow, was that yummy! So yummy, I needed to make more if I was going to share this.  I briefly thought about not sharing the second batch, but that just ain't nice, ya know?

(Ummm... I forgot the SUGAR... geez, and this is an awful picture!)

Makes about 4 pint jars, or 8 8 oz. jars
Ingredients:

4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced and slightly crushed

1 tsp. orange zest (optional)

2 large habanero chilies, stemmed and seeded, then minced

7 cups white sugar

3 oz packet of Liquid Pectin

Wash, hull and slice the berries. Hulling is just a fancy name for taking off the tops, in case you were wondering.

I used my food processor to slice my berries with the slicier attachement, which made short work of that job.  It doesn't matter if it mushes them up a bit.

Next, get ready to chop up the habaneros.  Be careful these will hurt if you touch you eyes, ears, nose or anything else....
When you are done chopping, wash everything TWICE to make sure you have gotten it all off your hands and utensils.

 

I used a bag to cover my hand while I chopped them up.  I minced them up in the food processor (now with the chopper blade in the bottom) and added them to the berries and the sugar in a 6 qt stockpot.  

 

Over medium high heat, mix the sugar, berries and the habaneros until the sugar melts and the jam comes to a full rolling boil.  Add the liquid pectin (I used Certo) and bring back to a rolling boil for ONE MINUTE.  This is important.  Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the burner. Ladle into hot jars and process as you normally do...

I'm not going to tell you all how to can jams, because this site does a great job. http://pickyourown.org/water_bath_canning_directions.php

Here's another recipe I do for regular Strawberry jam (without pectin).

Chipotle Nectarine Jam

I know, I know, I really should just leave some things alone. 
But after making about 5 batches of nectarine jam and a Nectarine Crostada -Lazy Girl Pie out of the 'case of nectarines that never ended', I wanted to shake things up a bit. 
Spicy jam? 
Why not?
You know how much I like chipotles!
I've had this in my greek yogurt about 5 days in a row now for breakfast.
I really, really like it like that.
Also, this jam would be great on homemade artisan bread, cornbread, or with grilled pork tenderloin or with cheese and crackers.
Heck, just eat it, it's super good!

If you don't like chipotles... well, leave them out and make some incredible regular ole' nectarine jam.  I also made a batch with 1 tsp of almond extract (and no chipotles, silly!) which is also super yummy!

Leave the skins on the nectarines... it's way easier, plus they give the jam a great color and then add pectin so that your jam will be thicker.  You can't taste the peels, I promise.
Now stop being so picky, okay?

Makes about 5 cups of jam


6 cups nectarines, chopped- leave skins ON
3 cups sugar
4 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 chipotle chilies, canned in adobo sauce, minced


Bring the nectarines, sugar and lemon juice to a boil over medium high heat. 

Reduce to medium and simmer at a gentle rolling boil for 30 minutes, stirring often. Add the minced chipotle chili and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Ladle jam into hot sterile jars.  Leave a 1/2 inch head-space. Top with a new lid and band. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes for half-pint jars.  "Google" Home Canning Basics for more information about the canning process if you've never done it.

Here's some pictures of my canning equipment.  The blue ladel thingy comes in super handy when filling hot jars with hat jam... Also, you really do need the jar lifter, it grips onto your jars in the hot water and makes it easy and safe to pull out.

Here I am ready to fill them up.  I only got 2 pint jars and some extra for a jar for the fridge. It's probably best to use one cup jars, but I was out of them because I have been making some much jam. I wish some of the people I gave jam to would give the jars back....

Ready to got into the canning kettle, which is really just a deep stock pot.  You need enough water to cover the jars by about 1" when they are processing.

Here they are simmering in their bath.  I keep it on medium and let it simmer away for about 10-15 minutes. I don't have a rack for the jars... I have never had one break in the water (which would be a super big mess...), but keep the water at SIMMER, not at boil!

Here's some other jams I've done this summer!
Pepper, Peach & Rosemary Jam
Strawberry Jam- No Pectin

Pepper, Peach & Rosemary Jam

I should probably apologize in advance for being a rule breaker.
When I see a recipe, I blatantly blaze my own path with their inspiration.
I mean really, if 1/2 tsp of pepper is good, isn't 1-2 tsp of pepper better?
I think it is...
Peaches, Pepper, Rosemary? Oh yeah, count me in...

I was inspired by another blog post on a site I like called Punk Domestics. I met this guy in at a Meyer Cookware event in San Francisco, and he was a wealth of information of all things "preserving"... but let's just say that "punk" wasn't the first thing I thought about him.  The dude was smart, and I check his site often, but punk didn't make the cut with me. I'm not yet into making my own charcuterie, but maybe someday...  
I couldn't tell if this recipe was a fellow blogger*** recipe, or his own, but the site gave credit to Martha Stewart.  Of course, I changed the recipe... because I felt like it... and because I can! Martha won't mind.

I'm loving the idea of serving this jam to my writer "foodie" friends on Thursday with some goat cheese and crackers.  Geez, I'd better get going on homemade crackers... I can't use Triscuits with these ladies. 
Well, I could... but maybe it's me that doesn't want Triscuits with this.


This recipe only makes 5 - 1 cup portions... I might double it next time! I canned two pints (2 cups each) and put the rest in a fridge jar.

***P.S. On further research, I see that this is another blogger named Karen... awesome job Karen!
***P.S.S. I gave my husband the cracker I photographed while he was talking on the phone to his buddy, he said "wow" while he was eating it.  Nice, huh? He doesn't even like jam...
***P.S.S.S... it's 6am and I'm getting ready to post this recipe, and I just ate some of this jam on plain greek yogurt.  I sure hope the rest of my day is just as marvelous.

makes 5 half-pints
Ingredients

3 pounds peaches, yellow or white, (do what you like!)
1/3 cup lemon juice (I used 1 1/2 lemons, juiced)
2 tsp. lemon zest

3 cups sugar

4 large sprigs rosemary

1-2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

Peel and pit the peaches. (Very ripe peaches are very easy to peel with a knife.  If your peaches do not peel easily, they are probably not ripe enough.  If you must make the jam without allowing them to ripen further, you can boil them for one minute, then plunge into cold water to loosen the skin.)

Slice the peaches into 1/2 inch slices/chunks.  Place peaches in a large pot, add lemon juice, sugar, rosemary, and pepper.  Cover and let stand for 4 hours in the same pot that you intend to cook the jam in.  Stir every hour to incorporate the sugar.
(I didn't do this, I let them all sit together about 30 minutes... I am so impatient.)

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook for 15 minutes, until mixture is syrupy.  Lightly mash the mixture to break down peach slices, leave about 1/3 of wedges intact. 

Discard rosemary sprigs, discard the big pieces but let a couple of green pieces in for color and interest.

Ladle jam into hot sterile jars.  Leave a 1/2 inch head-space. Top with a new lid and band. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes for half-pint jars.  "Google" Home Canning Basics for more information about the canning process if you've never done it.

This makes an awesome appetizer with a glass of wine and a little goat cheese on a cracker!

Strawberry Jam (no pectin)

Strawberry jam, isn't it everyone's favorite?  

I love jam, but have never liked the really thick, "hard" jams and jellies with too much pectin in them.  While pectin is a naturally occuring substance, I just don't like it. I prefer to make my jam without it.  Not using pectin has given me some issues though, because some fruits have very little 'jelling' ability without the added pectin.  Strawberries are one of those fruits, but I found this great article online that explained how to get around this without cooking your jam to death.  Here's the original article in Cincinnati Locavore. I changed a couple things, because I felt that the ratio of sugar to fruit should not be equal and the end product would end up too sweet.  One important thing I learned from the article is that strawberries with some green on them actually have the naturally occuring pectin that will help it to jell up and thicken, so go ahead and chose some berries with a little green bits. It can be a bit of an extra step to strain your berries out of the jam part way through, but it really wasn't that bad. I also think the jam has a nicer color and fresher "realer" taste than so many jams.

I bought my strawberries at Costco in a 4lb pack for $5.99.  I thought that was a pretty good deal to make 8 jars of jam, even adding in the price of 6 cups of sugar and the lemon.  If you buy that nasty jam at the supermarket, it is actually pretty darn expensive, so do yourself a favor and make some jam this year.  Even if you invest in a canning 'set' which includes the jar tongs (very helpful) and the filling funnel, it is worthwhile, and satisfying, to make your own jam.

About 8 8-oz jars of preserves

8-9 cups of Strawberries, a few slightly unripe, slightly mashed (approx 4 lbs.)

6 cups sugar
Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of one lemon

Fill canning kettle with water to cover 1/2-pint jars by 2 inches, cover, bring to a boil, and keep it there.

Set 1/2 pint (8-oz) jars and lids into a pan of hot water over lowest heat. You'll need 1 jar per cup of mashed berries.

Wash and hull strawberries.  You actually want berries that have some green on them,  those berries still have natural pectin in them!

Mash about half the berries, leaving some in slices in an extra large heavy non-aluminum pot. Add sugar to the partially mashed berries and bring to a full rolling boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the sugar from sticking and burning. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve into a bowl, allowing syrup to drip through sieve for a few minutes.  Be SO careful it is hot and sticky and will give you a painful burn if it splashes on you.

Set the sieve aside, return syrup to pot, add lemon juice and zest, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly and boiling on high heat until candy thermometer reads between 220 and 222.  You need to stay right there and stir and watch, do not leave unattended.

You can see that I should have used a deeper pot, this mixture almost went over the top... which would have been a major mess!

Return contents of sieve to pot and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and ladle into hot 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/2" headroom. Wipe jar rims with damp cloth, cover with hot lids and screw on lid rims without tightening. (The lid rims are only there to hold the lids in place during processing; tightening them can both interfere with processing and cause you to dislodge the lids when removing the lid rims before storing your preserves.) Set jars into canning rack and drop into boiling water in kettle. Cover kettle and process 10 minutes, remove from water, and set on rack to cool. Once cool, check seals (press gently in the center of the lid -- if you feel a slight pop and the center flexes down and then back up again, the lid didn't form a seal and that jar should be refrigerated and used within six months), remove lid rims and label.