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

Mango Jam with Lime & Saffron

Sunshine in a jar.
I bought the big six pack of mangos at Costco the other day.  I used two trying another recipe that failed... but couldn't get going on my leftover four big mangos.
Finally, I figured... why not Mango jam?
There are plenty of good recipes out there, that are quite easy.  
I saw some fun ones with ginger and mango, and lime and mango, and one with ginger and saffron.  Kind of fun, so I came up with my own with lime and saffron.  I know not everyone has saffron around, and frankly I'm not sure I could really taste the saffron in the finished jam, but it was yummy and a beautiful color too.

The picture above was taken on a my sister's boat in the San Juans, she graciously searched through her stuff to find a woven placemat, a cute paper napkin and a paper plate for the "photo shoot".  She also made the really marvelous scones too.

Makes 5 8oz jars
Ingredients

4 cups fresh mango, chopped
3 cups sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced
3-6 threads of saffron (optional)
1 pkg liquid pectin

Cut each mango in thirds, slicing as close to the center pit as possible, leaving two bigger outside pieces with the skin still on.  If you get too close to the pit, go ahead and pick that part off.

 Using a paring knife, score a criss cross pattern through the fruit, but not through the skin.

Push the back side of the cut fruit in, so all the squares of fruit stick out.  Cut them from the skin, but if your fruit is really ripe, you can probably use your hands.

Four big mangos, gave me 4 cups of chopped fruit.  If the chunks are too big, you can use a pair of kitchen scissors to chop the pieces smaller while in the measuring cup. 

Get a big stock pot of water simmering on medium low on a back burner.  Add your canning jars to your water to sterilize for 5 minutes, remove and drain.  They will dry on their own quite quickly while you are making the jam.  Have your individual tops and jar bands in a smaller pan of hot water and keep there until you are ready to jar them up. 

To make the jam,
Bring the chopped mangos, the sugar, lime zest and saffron to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the liquid pection and set your timer for 1 minutes. 
Add the jam to the jars, leaving about 1/4 to 1/2 inch at the top.  Add the top and secure with the band.  Add all the jars back to the water, turn up the water so it begins to boil again and let them process for 10 minutes.  Remove and let sit for 24 hours.  

Don't freak out if it looks a little thin at first, it usually takes a full 24 hours for it to set. 

IF for some reason your jam doesn't set up, go ahead and unseal the jars, and empty the mixture into another pot, bring to a boil and add another pouch of liquid pectin.  Re-can and process.

I really like to make jam, here's some others:
Chipotle Nectarine Jam
Drunken Fig Jam
Honey and Lemon Jelly 
Pepper, Peach & Rosemary Jam
Strawberry Jam (No Pectin)
Strawberry Habanero Jam
Tomato Jalapeno Jelly

Refrigerated Pickled Green Beans

I love to buy those little french green beans at Costco.
However, a 2lb bag is quite a bit for two people to eat as they go bad so quickly.
I mean really, how many beans can two people eat?
Sometimes I throw half of them in a freezer ziploc and freeze them, other times I make a batch (or even a half batch) of these pickled green beans.

These are great to snack on, garnish a Bloody Mary or give as gifts too.
They must be kept chilled, so if you give them as a gift, be sure to write that on the lid, or the tag, so people don't forget.

Even if you have never canned anything before this is an easy way to start.  I do think that you could can these, but I wanted to keep the beans fresh and crunchy and I was concerned that cooking in a water bath canning kettle would cook the beans too much.

FYI- I made these once with all vinegar and no wine because I really like tangy, however it was too much, too strong, and it caused an acidic chemical reaction in the garlic turning it BLUE!!! Live and learn, just use the wine! Want to read more, find an explanation here.

Makes about 8 jars (I used 12oz tall jars)
Ingredients

2 lbs. of small French Green Beans

4 cups white vinegar
4 cups white wine (something cheap, I used a sauvignon blanc)

8 tsp salt

8 tsp sugar* (optional)

8 hot red peppers (or whole dried peppers or red pepper flakes)

8-16 fresh garlic cloves

4-8 tsp whole black peppercorns

4 tsp red pepper flakes

Add the beans to clean, sterilized jars. Add garlic, peppercorns, pepper flakes and dried or fresh peppers to each jar.
Over high heat, bring wine and vinegar to a boil.  Add salt and sugar and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat and pour over beans in the jars. Add lids and screw tops.  Let cool for an hour.  Refridgerate until ready to use.  Ready to eat after 1 week.
Keeps for 2-3 months in the fridge.

Green Tomato Salsa

Got too many tomatoes?
Maybe you are just plain sick of coming up with things to do with all your tomatoes.
Plus, the season is wearing down, and you just might have a couple too many green tomatoes. Luckily, a friend of mine mentioned at a party that she was done with canning her tomatoes... so heck, I suck at growing my own tomatoes, so I asked for any green tomatoes that she wanted to unload.  Jackpot, she messaged me a couple days later and said she had a bunch for me!

Green salsa is just about my favorite type of salsa, but I thought it was the tomatillos that I loved.  What a surprise to find out it might be green tomatoes too. I want to make another batch to get through the winter months, my only issue with my first batch was that it was too mild.  Yep, even with almost 10 BIG jalapeno's (I didn't include the seeds), it wasn't as hot as we wanted.  If you like hot, you might want to try this recipe too, Green Salsa- Hot, Hot, Hot. It is made entirely of hot peppers, no tomatillos or green tomatoes.

Enjoy it with grilled meats and fish or straight from the jar as a dip for tortilla chips. Here's the Original recipe from the Ball Canning site.

Makes about 5 16 oz pints
Ingredients
 

8 cups chopped cored peeled green tomatoes (about 12 medium)

5 to 10 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

2 cups chopped onion (about 2 large)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup lime juice (about 3 limes)
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

3-4 tsp salt (or more to taste)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 cup white vinegar

6 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands (I actually got 5 full jars, and a partial jar)

Prepare two pots of boiling water.
One for canning (see below)
One for peeling your green tomatoes.  Once the water is boiling, drop in the green tomatoes into the boiling water, remove with a slotted spoon and let sit a couple of minutes.  Using a paring knife, cut a shallow "X" in the bottom of each tomato, that will make it easier to peel each one. Chop finely. You can dump the water from this pan, and use it to cook the sauce.
(if you use green cherry tomatoes, don't peel them, just mince in your food processor).

In the canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.

Use a food processor to chop finely the peppers, onion and garlic. Set aside.   

 

Combine tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and lime juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in cilantro, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.

Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

 

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