Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Homemade pepper jelly:
Eat some now, give some later

Last week I had the worst week at work: Layoffs and furloughs have left many of us stressed, overworked, and at serious risk for burn out. And to top it off I have had what I thought was a head cold for nearly three weeks running. I've since decided it's allergies, but living with constantly stuffed and achy sinuses has left me feeling pretty under the weather.

Thank goodness I found an activity that addressed both problems: Pepper jelly. I'll explain. I find few things as relaxing as canning. It's sort of like cooking in that it's a creative outlet, but canning really addresses the squirrel in me: Especially during this time of year, I like to stock up tasty things to take me through the winter. And the hot water bath works as a nice sinus steamer, while the pungent odor of the peppers blasts through, giving me a whiff of something for the first time in weeks.

Much credit goes to my blog and real-life friend Trevor for this inspiration. I mailed him some fig jam; he mailed me some of this grandmother's recipe of pepper jelly. Over the weekend, he made fig jam, and I made pepper jelly. He made his as part of a holiday gift-making collective; I'll take some of mine to sell at Sophie's school holiday art fair.

My produce market had a wonderful collection of peppers. Although the recipe calls for red peppers, I couldn't help throw in a few yellows as well.

Seeding the jalepenos keeps this jelly from being too hot. It's just perfect for my white-girl taste buds.

I chopped all peppers coarsely and then ran them through the food processor.

Perhaps what I love most about this recipe is what it does not include: green food coloring. You can go ahead and dump this over a brick of cream cheese if you must, but it does not need a lurid green hue. I prefer Trevor's recommendation of crostini and goat cheese. It's a great addition to any cheese and cracker or bread combination.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I am jealous of you having time to can. I am a graduate student and full-time worker. My free time is spent sleeping! I should make myself try pepper jam. I always refused it growing up. Jam = sugary. Pepper = not sugary. It didn't seem to mesh.

Purple Flowers said...

Hi Cindy - You've been mentioned on my blog today.

Kate said...

You may sneeze at the cream cheese, but I LOVE me some pepper jelly with cream cheese and wheat thins. I draw the line at dumping the jelly over the cream cheese, however.

Trevor Sis Boom said...

I was wondering why I was getting email on this post and now I see! Hi Kate! When my grandmother served this she always dumped over the cream cheese. She'd make a green batch and a red batch and dump each over half the same brick. Very colorful and holiday but it got a bit ugly towards the end of the plate. But then, the fact that it did showed how much everyone just loved it. I'm making more tonight.

Laura said...

Oh I'm with you on the canning! My only problem is that I really want to engage in the activity in cold weather but all of the bounty comes when it's hot!

Preppy Pink Crocodile said...

I love canning too! Don't laugh, but I stick my face over the steam, convincrd its just as good as a salon facial. I look like a fool but that's a given most of the time anyway.