I have always looked through my canning books and every time I see "Habanero Gold" I have always wanted to make it,but something always stops me.
.I am trapped on the coast at the moment as my man is away at work, I try to keep busy to make the time go faster.
So the other day I thought, today is the day I will make that beautiful pepper jelly.
I gathered all my ingredients, but was unable to get any habaneros, so made do with a slightly milder green chilli as a substitute.So I thought I would document this journey as I went along.
I decided to make two batches as i have read that you have to be a little careful multiplying batches when doing jelly as they sometimes don't gel as well as single batches, so I heeded that warning.
Firstly I finely chopped 1/4 cup of dried apricots and put them in in a plastic bowl over which i poured 3/4 cup of white vinegar, I then covered this with cling film and left about 4 hours9But it can be left overnight if needed)
I placed the apricots into two stainless pots, and then chopped 1/4 cup red onions into small dice and added to the pots.
I then chopped 1/4 cup of a sweet red pepper into small dice and added it also to the pots.
I then I put on protective rubber gloves(which I have learnt the hard way,that one should always do) split my green chillies down the centre and removed the seeds,and chopped them also into a fine dice to measue 1/4 cup and added these also to the pots.
To this I now added 3 cups of sugar to each of the pots and mixed together with a whisk until combined.
I then put this on high heat and brought this to the boil,stirring constantly and boiled hard to a rolling boil, I then stirred in 1 pouch of liquid pectin and returned the mix to a hard boil again and continued to boil for 1 minute.I then turn off the heat, allow to settle and skim off any scum or film that forms( this makes a clearer jelly,with no "froth" on top.
Meanwhile prepare your lids in a pot of just simmering water,don't boil them, and fill your clean,hot jelly jars, de-bubble if necessary and leave the required 1/4 inch headspace. Place lids on and screw on bands to finger tight.
Then out comes my trusty big electric water bath,and I place all my jars into it, cover them with a couple of inches of warm/hot water, place the lid on and turn the dial to boil. When it reaches that magic number I then time it for 10 minutes, turn off, and remove lid and let the jars sit for about 5 minutes. I then lift all the jars out onto a towel which I have placed on my bench and leave to cool. I check they all have "pinged" and leave them for 24 hours before removing the rings.
The next day after removing all the rings, I wash the jars to remove any sticky residue, and label them, and then I show off a little by arranging them and taking a pretty photo( I was very proud of my first attempt, I thought they looked gorgeous) and then the final test
.
When my man returned home from work after being away we broke open a nice bottle of Sauvigon Blanc(for me) and a beer for him and gave the Habanero Gold a try.....all I can say is YUM !!!!
So I must go,
So until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane
