homemade pineapple jalapeno jelly

So, what to do with all the jalapenos that are growing in my garden? And how about all those canning jars I have? Make pineapple jalapeno jelly, of course!

The first and last time I canned anything was probably about 20 years ago. I had a cookbook for jams and jellies that I'd bought thinking, "I'm going to make delicious jams and jellies! I'm going to can them all! I'm going to sell them at farmer's markets!"  That's usually how my thought process goes with anything new and crafty I try...just like my mom. And, as usual, I lose interest quickly, either because I'm not as good at whatever "it" is, or it doesn't produce results quick enough, or any other excuse I can think of. I differ from my mother in that way; she'd follow through.  It might not always be a success, but she stuck with it to the end and then moved onto something new.

Armed with my new jam and jelly cookbook, I made the strawberry jam recipe a couple times and decided I wanted to can it, since there's only so much strawberry jam you can use at one time. It...didn't go very well. I must not have stirred it enough, or maybe the burner was too hot,because every time I ended up with a browned mess on the bottom of the pot. The jam itself was good, though. (I made it at my parents' house one time years ago, and my mother kept telling me I "burned" her pot. I disagree...)  The jars never sealed even though I followed the canning directions. Although I'll admit that I'm not good at reading through directions or a recipe BEFORE I start, which sometimes leaves me very surprised that I was supposed to X before doing Y, or I need to do something with a certain ingredient before using it, and that's why the recipe or whatever I'm doing doesn't go quite according to plan. A long way to say, it was probably me and not the recipe or the directions for canning, or an equipment failure. Pilot error...

On to the garden.

I have two raised bed gardens since I can't be bothered, at least right now, with digging a garden. Also, I'm a reformed plant killer and two 4x8 raised beds makes gardening easy and there isn't too much space in which to kill things. I have one bed for tomatoes and green beans (OMG the beans are producing big time right now!) and one for all my herbs; some are perennial, like sage and thyme, and others are annual, like basil.  I also planted one lonely green pepper plant; I got a whole two peppers off of it so far!  Anyway, I normally plant jalapenos, but I ran out of room in the garden. I planted one plant in a large pot this year, and it's really taken off. I'm glad I planted only one, because I have a TON of jalapenos!

I made jalapeno poppers last year, and those were pretty good, but I wanted to do something different this year. I decided to try my hand at jelly-making! I have plenty of jelly jars I've never used. although I do use them for homemade seasoning mixes sometimes. But what kind of jelly should I make? Something with jalapenos obviously. I thought about what combo I like most when eating something hot and spicy and the answer was easy:  pineapple and jalapeno. I'm always buying pineapple salsa (probably next on my list to make since, as you can see, the tomatoes are starting to ripen), so it made sense to make pineapple jalapeno jelly.

As usual, there are tons of recipes for the same thing. This is the recipe I settled on:  Jalapeno Pineapple Jelly.  It's just pineapple, jalapenos, red pepper, white vinegar, a little salt, liquid pectin, and a TON of sugar, which explains the sugar content in just a small amount of jelly. (Large amounts of jam/jelly on a bagel is something I really miss after gastric bypass; I can eat it, but definitely not as much as I used to.) It made six 8 oz. jars.

The process was easy enough, but, man, was the kitchen HOT! Not only because I had to stand in front of the pot and stir constantly for 10 minutes once it got boiling, but because of the pepper fumes.  I made the mistake of leaning over the pot to enjoy the scent of peppers--bad idea! Don't do that! I also had to prepare the jars for canning. That was a little tedious, but only because I have a small kitchen and haven't done it in many years.

As you can see, Marty supervised the whole process and kept me on track. He was there from start to finish.

No special canning equipment needed other than the jar lifter (special tongs). You also need a wide-mouth funnel to make the process of putting the screaming hot jelly into the jars, but it's not a requirement; it just makes it much less messy. I used my huge stock pot and the rack from my Instant Pot as the insert to do the canning part.

Batch #1

The finished product is delicious! It gelled up just the way it should. It has some heat, but it's a pleasant amount of heat. It looks pretty, too. It's a golden yellow color with red and green specks of pepper (I chopped them in my mini food processor) with some little bits of pineapple. I really want to dive into the jar, but the sugar content works out to 21g for one ounce (and 84 calories)! One ounce of jelly is a lot, though--a more realistic serving size is probably half that. I just used ounces since it was easier for entering the recipe into My Fitness Pal.

Isn't it gorgeous?! Liquid gold!

Overall, the first run through was a bit tiring, but I did it again last night and it went much easier this time. I prepared all the peppers first, then prepared the canning jars and pot for canning, then did the cooking. It was still a very hot process, and the whole house smelled like peppers and vinegar (sorry, dear!), but I found it easier this time. This time I used my big food processor for the chopping and it came out chunkier. I like chunky, so I'll probably stick with using the big one. I found that the mini food processor kind of pulverized the peppers and pineapple. That's fine, though, if you like a smoother product.

Batch #2
The jars are still hot and steamed up. Plus my phone camera sucks sometimes.

Some of the jelly is going to a family member and the rest is staying with ME!! (It's shelf stable for about 18 months.) I'm thinking I'll need to mix some of this with cream cheese to make a dip, or spread for bagels or crackers. Crackers are probably a better bet since bagels are my kryptonite...

Next on the list:  strawberry jalapeno jelly, hot pepper jam (or jelly), and crab apple jelly (I have crab apple trees in my yard).