Prologue:I've never made jelly or canned anything so Im entering this venture wary of burns and botulism.
Ingredients:
Fresh anaheim peppers from my garden (red/green)
Liquid Pectin
Sugar
A Jar
A new lid
At the height of my veg preserving ambition, I made hot pepper jelly and found a few things to be useful bits of knowledge:
1) Wear Freakin Gloves! The pepper juice doesn't really burn at first but you will notice remnants when you wash your face later and splash peppery acid in your eyes. Though I washed my hands, it hung on like "an Alabama tick" and re-emerged at a very inopportune time.
2) Don't forget that cans pop. After sealing the jar, I nessled into my Tom Robbins novel, ignoring the rest of the world and was startled by a loud POP! hours later.
3) Try smaller jars. I was super pissed that after 48 hours of undisturbed setting time, my jelly was still syrupy. It wasn't until I poured off the top inch of solution that I found actual jelly. My anger subsided.
4) Cooking fresh peppers makes pepper spray! No really, I was all choked up and crying and laughing b/c, as I hovered over my boiling ingredients, the fumes gave me a punch. It was fascinating and hysterical at the same time.
5) I think that's about it. Oh, except, if you do happen to over cook the solution and the jelly doesnt coalgulate, don't forget that you can still use the mixture as a sauce. I used that ole syrupy inch in a stir fry and it was rad (see previous entry about MuscleMan).
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