Recipe: Irene's Hot Pepper Jelly (using bell peppers and jalapenos)

IRENE'S HOT PEPPER JELLY

"Good for slathering with cream cheese on a cracker (a classic Southern appetizer); or with lamb, pork, or beef as a condiment or glaze."



1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped jalapeno chilies
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
6 1/2 cups sugar
6 ounces pectin
2 teaspoons red chile flakes

Put the peppers, chilies, and vinegar in a food processor or blender and puree.

Pour the puree into a large pot and add the sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.

Whisk in the pectin and continue boiling for 1 minute. Skim the foam from the top. Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes; skim the foam again. Stir in the red chile flakes.

Pour into hot sterilized jelly jars (click here for the canning procedure for this recipe). If not processing in a boiling water bath, cool the jelly in the jars before putting the tops on the jars and store in the refrigerator.

ABOUT THE RECIPE:
"Every time I visit my friend, Kirsten Newman-Teissier in Pennsylvania, we plan one day to cook (and always eat) with her mother, Irene. Renie, as she is known to her family, may be food TV's biggest fan. During a recent visit, she had just made a batch of hot pepper jelly that was a little different than all the hot pepper jellies that I had growing up in North Carolina. Her version is made with green bell peppers and both red and green chilies. The jelly was sweet and hot and tangy and had more dimension than most. When I made her version, I added the red chile flakes that have always been present in the Southern jellies and switched up the peppers to red and green bell peppers, since you can always find red bell peppers in the grocery store but you can't always find red hot peppers. I love this jelly so much that I use it for lots of recipes in this book."

Makes 5 1/2 cups
Adapted from source: Soaked, Slathered, and Seasoned by Elizabeth Karmel