Jalapeno Jelly/Pickles

For Christmas last year our neighbors across the street the Whalls gave us some jalapeno jelly. It was amazing with a little bit of cream cheese on a cracker! Probably one of my favorite unhealthy snacks. 

This year since I planted jalapenos I decided to make some. I had to buy some extra jalapenos since mine were so tiny and there wasn't too many on the plant. I opened a jar already and ate some and it is good! 

Dad put some on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and said it was too hot, but if you just stick to the cream cheese and Ritz crackers its just right. I think maybe next time I might not add the food coloring, it is a pretty color of dark green though when you do.

Jalapeno Jelly

10 jalapenos, seeded and stemed (wear gloves)

2 large green bell peppers

1 1/2 cups distilled vinegar

6 cups of sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice

4 oz. liquid pectin

10 drops food coloring (optional)

Place peppers in blender and puree until finely chopped. Combine puree and vinegar, bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and sugar, return to heat and bring to a boil and stir in pectin and food coloring. Bring to a boil again. Stir 1 minute. Skim foam off and bottle in clean jars, process 10 minutes.

For 1 batch I got 6 8oz jars. Beware when you boil the peppers with vinegar the fumes or vapors or whatever is coming off the peppers is going to be strong, open some windows to ventilate.

I also bottled some pickles!!

  This was fairly easy to do since I did it the easy way and just bought a ready mix packet. It was called Mrs. Wages, I got the dill flavor since that is the only kind of pickles I like. All I had to do was boil the packet in some distilled vinegar and water and than pour the juice into the jars and process for 10 minutes.

I used some of the pickling cucumbers that I grew in my garden and than bought ten pounds of them from a local farmers market. 

The bigger ones that I grew I sliced so I could use them on burgers and sandwiches. The little ones I got from the market I just left whole and try to fit as many as I could into a bottle. I got 21 pints in all. I had to go back to the store to get another packet, it didn't make 7 quarts like it said. I got about 10 pints per a packet. 

I am looking forward to seeing how they taste, I wonder if they will taste like the ones from the store.