How to Make Hot Pepper Jelly

Once I year I make hot pepper jelly to share with my friends as a homemade holiday gift. I like to serve hot pepper jelly with cream cheese (or goat cheese) and crackers. It is a super easy appetizer to put out when you are hosting for the holidays or anytime of the year! This recipe yields 9 half pint jars and if sealed, it will be safe to store on the shelf for one year.

Ingredients:

• 3 bell peppers – red, orange, and yellow diced
• 6 jalapeño peppers diced
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 6 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 pouch of Certo, liquid fruit pectin

Step One: Clean and dice the bell and jalapeño peppers – this will take awhile but it is worth the effort. Note: Do not run the peppers through your food processor, this will extract the liquid from your peppers and your jelly will not set.

Step Two: Add the diced peppers, apple cider vinegar, crushed red pepper, and sugar into a large stockpot on the stove. Heat over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the liquid fruit pectin and return to a boil. Cook 1 minute.

Step Three: Pour a portion of the hot pepper jelly into a large Pyrex measuring cup or use a ladle to fill up the jars within 1/4″ of the top. Wipe down the outside of the jars (if needed) with a damp cleaning rag and cover with the lid and screw the band on tight. You should have 9 half pint jars filled with fresh hot pepper jelly when you are done.

Step Four:  If you don’t want to refrigerate all of the jelly you’ll need to seal your jars. This is pretty simple! Take the largest pot you have and put in as many jars of the jelly as possible into the pot – my 8 quart pot holds 6 jars easily. Fill the pot up with water until the jars are covered with 1-2″ of water. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil – boil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the jars (I use tongs) and place them on a kitchen towel to cool completely.

Step Five: After the jars have cooled completely you can check the seals by pressing the middle of the lid with your finger – if the lid springs back the lids are not sealed and you’ll need to refrigerate the jars. If the lid does not spring back then it is safe to store in your pantry for ~ 1 year.

Enjoy!