OOOPS , over ripe peppers

[Fishawn]

Low n slow? Hot n fast? Water pan? Mop? Inject? Rotisserie? Cockspatch? Stall? Foil? Rest?

[1894]

Speaking of "nasties" inside, I cut open a bell pepper several years back and there was a green "inchworm" inside it, alive....

Anybody else ever experience that?

Better than being most of the way thru eating an apple and finding 1/2 a worm

[1894]

Does this sound like a good recipe for first timers just looking for an easy first jelly ???

from Ball I believe :

http://freshpreserving.com/recipe.aspx?r=247

Makes about 5 (8 oz) half pints

Eliminate the juice-making step and still produce a translucent jelly? This unique recipe does! Flecked with tiny bits of peppers, this zesty jelly adds a jewel-like flair to cheese trays. Spread it on a block of warmed cream cheese and serve with crackers.
You will need:

12 oz jalapeño peppers (about 12 med)
2 cups cider vinegar, divided
6 cups sugar
2 3-oz pouches of Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin
Green food coloring, optional
5 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands
Directions:
1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) PURÉE peppers in food processor or blender with 1 cup cider vinegar until smooth. Do not strain purée.
3.) COMBINE purée with remaining 1 cup cider vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4.) ADD Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin, immediately squeezing entire contents from pouches. Continue to boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add food coloring, if using, and skim foam if necessary.
5.) LADLE hot jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
6.) PROCESS in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Note: When cutting or seeding hot peppers, wear rubber gloves to keep your hands from being burned.

[ganny76]

Almost exactly what I used, but I used 10 jalapeno's, they were pretty good size and two medium bell peppers. Its TH's recipe. Think I used regular vinegar also and only one cup. I did use 2 cups cider vinegar for my habanaro jelly. I also did not use any food coloring. The color was a nice green.

[1894]

I did 1/2 the recipe , since it was my virgin jelly experiance
Got two lil jars that I also went thru my virgin water baptismal experiance .
Exess just went into a cold jar and will fridge when it cools.

My cherry's popped now . Was fun , but I forgot to add the green dye # whatever

This don't look right does it ?

[Richtee]

Looks like pepper jelly to me, but I tend to close my eyes once it's in my mouth..soo...

[1894]

OOps missed your earlier reply Rich
Thanks for checking in and saying HI
Life is good here , no matter what , it is better than the alternative
Hope all is well with you and yours.

On to the next ignorant newbe question

The blueprints say let cool and after 24 hours check and make sure the cap is snugged down and don't bounce when pressed on . I get that . Make sure a good seal is made with a good vacume to it.

That 24 hours , is that at room temp ? or in the fridge ? Temp here is mid 70's and will dip into the mid 60's tonite.
Leave them on a cool counter , or stick them in the fridge when they get to room temp ?

[ganny76]

Just leave on the counter. Once the contents cools the lid will pull down. I put mine through a food processer so there wouldnt be any chunks. Looks great to me!!! Good job!!!

[1894]

I'm a worry wart here . The lids seem to have a good seal and concave like they are suposed to , and ring when tapped with a spoon .
But I messed up a couple things in the water bath.

1. The top of the water was not even 1/2 way up the ring band when boiling .
Not sure why , but brain pharted and I was thinking 1" from the top in the wrong direction .

2. Just read you shouldn't turn them upside down while cooling .
Seemed like a good idea at the time . The lil chunks were rising and I wanted them evenly distributed top to bottom.


So, I'm gonna redo the lids and water bath on these two . I've got almost a full pint jar that was just cold packed in the fridge so these will need to sit in the pantry shelf for a while.

[1894]

Yep , lids seemed sealed tite , but after pulling them there was a little jelly ( guess mine is more of a jam ) seeped in between the glass and lid.
Glad I didn't just stick them in the pantry for a few months .

Lesson lernt , keep jars right side up

[1894]

That was a wasted effort . One didn't reseal good so now I'm farther behind than when I restarted. One new lid took and one didn't. Glad I made this learning process on only a couple 1/2 pint jars rather than messing up a big batch of anything
I think my neighbor will be happy to add a jar to his fridge .

IF there are no serrious saftey issues . PLEASE let me know if there are any.

short version :

Hot jars + hot jam mix + boiling water that didn't completly cover the metal ring band = good tite seal.
Redid them :
New sterilized caps and rings + room temp jars + 120 degree water to start with covering the jars + close to 2 hours bringing them up to boiling + 15 min boiling = sit on counter overnite and one tight lid one thud sounding lid that is still concave.

Is it a risk to offer my neighbor ( that I do not wish to food poison ) the thuddy jar ? Been in the fridge since 5 am today.

[ganny76]

I am not sure. I know you re-boiled the jars, but I wonder what temp the actual jelly got up to? Hopefully Rich will come along soon. He knows all about this stuff. Might have been better off not reboiling and just eating it now and making changes on the next batch. The reheating is what concerns me.

[Richtee]

IF there are no serrious saftey issues . PLEASE let me know if there are any.

I don't know the canning stuff very well, sir. There's a few folks here who do, I think Mark R and irish Chef are a couple... Big Guy, umm prolly a few more too. Sorry, I am not qualified to answer...

[Fishawn]

Personally, anything in question I would throw out. If they do not seal properly, I put them in the fridge & use.

You can start over, take your time & make sure you understand the process, steps & instructions when you go at it for round #2.

I hope to get to this recipe this weekend also.

Good luck & there is a canning sticky in the Harvest Moon area of everything gardening if you have any questions.

[1894]

I am not sure. I know you re-boiled the jars, but I wonder what temp the actual jelly got up to? Hopefully Rich will come along soon. He knows all about this stuff. Might have been better off not reboiling and just eating it now and making changes on the next batch. The reheating is what concerns me.

Ya , hindsight LOL .
I know everything was good untill I had the water bath going and sterilized the new lids and reopened the jars and put the new lids on them.
Started the room temp jars in 120 ish degree water so the glass wouldn't break . Was only 2 jars , 1/2 pint each. water temp was around 180 after first hour . Slowly rising for the next hour . Then a good 15 min ( more like 20 ) in a rolling boil. Was worried about internal temps as well.

Hopefully some more folks will chime in. I think it should be safe , but would hate to get sick ( or worse anyone else sick ) from my first batch of jam.
Flavor is great though