To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pears? Hot pepper jam!
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:53:03 -0500
Jim,
My folks had some hot pepper jelly, I copied the ingredient list off
the jar but decided to make up my own. I used half sweet peppers, half sour
quinces, and 2-3 jalapenos per pint. Our friends are crazy about it. It is
really very pretty with some red and some green peppers. You could get
away with something closer to the original commercial product:
1 lb of pears
1/4 lb or less sweet peppers
2-3 jalapenos or cayenne peppers (or just dried cayenne pepper)
some vinegar, say 1/8 to 1/4 cup
Pit the pears, run everything through a grater, and measure an equal amount
of sugar. It'll take some pectin, but less than making jelly. Use the
method used by old timers here: mix up the ingredients and wait overnight
for the sugar to extract the juices, then boil it up and seal.
I'm sure you can do a good job of taste testing and refining the mix.
To me, the effect of hot pepper jelly is a sudden shock to make the taste
buds shriek, "Oh no, help!" followed immediately by, "Oh, wow, that was fun!
Let's do it again!" So the jelly or jam needs to be hotter than seems
appropriate for tasting off the spoon. It needs to be tested with toast and
butter or biscuits. Note that the green and red color scheme is perfect for
Christmas gifts for hot pepper lovers. Donna