I have spent the entire week canning this week, including my first attempt at jelly. Its been very exciting and I am excited to share it with all of you. I’ll start with my jelly and work my way backward – I just made the jelly yesterday.
We went to St. Augustine in April for something fun to do on a Sunday afternoon. On our way back out to the car, we popped into a shop that sold hot sauces, salsas and the like. I love me some spicy foods, while hubby is a little more of a whimp when it comes to spice. I will give him credit though – since cooking healthier, I have incorporated a lot of red pepper flakes and hot sauce in my dishes and he’s warmed up to them. Ugh what a bad pun!
Anyway, we went into this store and I found a jar of blueberry jalapeno jelly. I was just so excited – two of my favorite things – the heat and the sweet – I love love LOVE blueberries.
I decided to leave the jar and its 8.99 price tag at the store, but I never forgot it. I waited patiently for blueberries to come in season and last week at The Farmer’s Market, I found a whoile flat of 12 pints for $12.00! I knew it was time….
I had looked online all these weeks trying to find a recipe, and never did, so I just took a pepper jelly recipe and a blueberry jelly recipe and married them. I was nervous about the nuptials, but tried a batch.
Any of you who have had pepper jelly and like it, you would love this. I was only slightly disappointed that there wasn’t any real heat – just a slight tingle in the back of the throat as an aftertaste, but its still awesome.
When you first taste it, the pepper jelly flavor is right there, but then it melts into a wonderful, sweet blueberry jelly taste. I liked it so much I made two batches!
Daniel enjoyed it, too!
I plan on giving it away at Christmastime, along with my other canned goodies. I made some too cute labels online and printed them, and will group some different items together.
It will be a great alternative to all the sweets from seasons past. Plus, all the ingredients ended up costing me about $1.00 per jar! You can’t beat it!
Blue Blazes : Blueberry Jalapeno Jelly
A Lobster and Fishsticks Creation
- 5 c. blueberries
- 1/2 c lemon juice, divided into two 1/4 c. portions
- 1 1/2 c water
- 1 c jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
- 2 tbsp bell pepper, chopped fine
- 1/2 c vinegar
- 2 1/2 c. sugar*
- 2 1/2 c. Splenda*
- 1 box Pectin (low sugar formula)
*you can do all sugar, but do not use all Splenda
In One saucepan, combine the peppers, vinegar, 1/4 c. lemon juice and 1 c. water. Cook on medium high for 20 minutes, then using a sieve, remove all the peppers from the liquid and set aside
In another saucepan, place blueberries, 1/4 c. lemon juice and 1/2 c water and cook on medium high for 20 minutes, Strain with a cheesecloth or jelly bag
Combine both liquids into one of the pans, adding sugar/Splenda. Cook on medium low until the sugar dissolved. Skim any foam off of the surface.
Bring mix to a boil and add 1 box pectin and bring to a rolling boil for one minute
Remove from heat, skim off any foam and ladle into sterilized jelly jars and place lids tightly on the jars.
Boil in a hot water bath (with 1-2 inches of water over the lids) for 5 minutes
Set on counter to cool and to set. Listen for the lids to pop. They could pop anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours afterward.
If they do not pop, they are not sealed and will need to be refrigerated and used immediately.
Yields about 6 half pint/jelly jars
