Homemade Pepper Jelly Recipe
This easy homemade pepper jelly is a perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and spicy flavors, and the gorgeous color makes this versatile jelly a popular home-crafted holiday gift.
Servings 6 4 ounce jars
Calories 44kcal
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups sweet peppers preferably three colours, finely diced
- 3 cups sugar
- ¾ cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 pouch liquid pectin 85 ml
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, combine the diced pepper mixture, sugar and vinegar.
- Over medium-high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, and boil for one full minute.
- Stir in liquid pectin, bring back to a boil, and boil hard for one full minute.
- Remove from heat and ladle into hot, sterilized jars.
- Put on lids and twist screw bands just finger tight.
- Process in boiling water bath (in a canning pot with a rack) for 10 minutes.
- Allow to cool, in which time you should hear the pop of the sealing jars, and your jelly will thicken.
Notes
- Yield. This recipe makes 3 cups of pepper jelly, so you can use 3 half-pint jars (8 ounce), or 6 four ounce jars.
- Spice level. I often make hot pepper jelly, too. If you would like your jelly to pack some heat, simply replace some of the peppers with jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers, depending on your desired heat level. And if you don't have hot peppers, you can add a pinch or two of dried red pepper flakes in the cooking process.
- Dicing peppers. A food processor works great for this job. If you dice the peppers by hand, be sure to wear gloves for the hot ones.
- Canning. This is a canning recipe, so you can make this jelly in the summer at harvest time, and have the jars on hand in your pantry all year round. If you prefer not to process the jelly, you can keep it in air tight containers in the fridge, for up to a month. You can also freeze it. Just wait until the pectin is set and the jelly is completely cool to put the jars in the freezer. You can freeze for up to a year. Thaw in the fridge over night.
- Sterilize jars. It's important to sterilize your jars: Wash them in hot, soapy water, rinse well, and then boil for 10 minutes.
- Filling jars. Use a wide mouth canning funnel to fill the sterilized jars with a ladle. Wipe the rims with a damp paper towel before applying the lids. Lids should be new and cannot be used again for canning.
- Water bath. Keep the water that you used to sterilize the jars at a simmer while you make the jelly. Bring it back to a boil, then add the filled, sealed jars to the same water for processing.
- Use a timer. Use a timer when cooking the jelly in order to get the timing exact for perfectly set jelly.
- Processing time. Again, use a timer so the jars are processed for the full ten minutes.
- High altitudes. You will need to increase the water bath processing time for high altitudes.
- 1,001- 3,000 feet Increase by 5 minutes
- 3,001- 6,000 feet Increase by 10 minutes
- 6,001- 8,000 feet Increase by 15 minutes
- 8,001-10,000 feet Increase by 20 minutes
- The diced peppers in your jelly will float to the top of the jars. To keep this from happening and suspend them throughout the jelly, turn the jars upside down and then upright a few times during the cooling time. As the jelly cools and gels, the particles will stay suspended.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 44kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 11mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 127IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
