jalapeno Jelly

[lavacarancher]

I've attempted to make Jalapeno Jelly using receipts listed here but all have failed. Basically, every attempt turns to candy.

How can it be any different when you are starting with somewhat less that two cups of liquid and 5 CUPS of sugar.

I've had Jalapeno jelly before and it is just like any other home made jelly (except for the flavor). So what have I not read in the receipts presented here (All have some variation of 1 1/2 cups of cider vinegar and 5 [or more] cups of sugar).

Thanks in advance for a response

[cheedo1@hotmail.com]

hi lava,
here is a recipe for you and is real easy and tasty, the only difference that i do with this recipe is that i use a red pepper and not a green, green can be over powering in flavor and the red just adds some color plus it has a better flavor with the red, than the green,
hope this turns out for you...
happy boiling,

INGREDIENTS
1 large green bell pepper
12 jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 pinch salt
4 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 ounces liquid pectin
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped




DIRECTIONS
Combine the green bell pepper and 12 jalapeno peppers in the container of a food processor or blender. Process until finely chopped. This can be done in batches, if the peppers do not fit.
Transfer the peppers to a large saucepan, and stir in the cider vinegar. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain the mixture through at least 2 layers of cheesecloth, and discard pulp. You should have about 1 cup of liquid.
Return the liquid to the saucepan, and stir in the salt and sugar until dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When the mixture comes to a rolling boil (one that cannot be stirred down), boil for one minute, then stir in the liquid pectin.
Stir in the remaining jalapeno peppers, and ladle into sterile jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Seal jars in a hot water bath. Refrigerate jelly after seal is broken.
i use ordinary vinegar not the apple cider vinegar,it's what i have on hand and tastes better.
remember,STRESSED spelt backwards is "DESSERTS"
happy cooking
Ron

[lavacarancher]

Thanks Cheedo for the response.

My problem is still the same, one cup of liquid and 5 (4 1/2) cups of sugar! With that much sugar and that little liquid it won't even disolve the sugar. In other words, when you start cooking the mixture you wind up with carmelized (melted) sugar which turns out to be candy, not jelly. I'm having a hard time explaining myself on this.

When you stick a spoon into jelly made from, say grapes or berries, it comes out of the jar rather easily and spreads on toast or bisquits pretty easily. The Jap jelly won't come out of the jar without some effort. The spoon gets stuck in the mixture and it certainly won't spread onto bread without tearing it up. Does any of this make sense?Recipes for berry or grape jellies and jams call for 4 to 5 cups of "juice" and 4 or 5 cups of sugar. This is reasonable ratio of juice to sugar. One cup of juice to 5 cups of sugar is not.

[cheedo1@hotmail.com]

i cook my sugar with the vinegar first and then i add the puree mixture this way the sugar gets dessolved and it won't caramilize, if you try this method you'll find that your on your way to good jelly.
let me know how this method turns out for you, this , you should have no problem.

remember,STRESSED spelt backwards is "DESSERTS"
happy cooking
Ron

[labradors]

I have never made jelly, so I cannot speak from personal experience on this, but there must be SOMETHING wrong, and it can't be the recipes. Although many recipes on this site contain errors, the question you ask would even apply to the recipe that Ron posted, and to many other recipes I found.

In fact, the recipes from the Kraft website (for Certo and Sure.Jell) have similar proportions, so that seemingly great quantity of sugar must not be the problem.

So that you may compare and contrast the tried-and-true Kraft recipes with the recipe you've been trying to use, in case they may reveal something you've been doing differently, here are links to three of them:

Sure.Jell Hot Pepper Jelly
Certo Five Pepper Jelly
Certo Hot Pepper Jelly

Good luck!

[labradors]

Okay, here's the scoop:

Upon someone else's recommendation, I called the toll-free contact number found on the website for the Ball jars. They said the same things that a few others had also suggested: the problem was either too much sugar, too much pectin, or cooking the mixture too long. When I told them of the recipe proportions you mentioned, they said that those sounded correct, so that probably ruled out the first two causes, leaving overcooking. What they said was that most of the questions people ask tend to be about having the jelly not set up right away, and that you must follow the cooking times exactly, especially if it is a tested recipe (known to have worked for someone else). They said that you may have seen that the mixture still appeared very liquid, and probably decided to cook it longer, expecting it to gel in the pot, but that many jellies are very liquid at the end of the proper cooking times, and that some don't set up for as long as two weeks.

Thus, the problem simply appears to have been one of too much cooking time.

As to your assessment of "How can it be any different when you are starting with somewhat less that two cups of liquid and 5 CUPS of sugar," it would appear that the properly heated liquid would, indeed, be able to assimilate that much sugar - indeed, that is part of what makes the jelly work. If the mixture is cooked too long, however, much of that liquid evaporates, so you no longer have the same ratio, and you start to get into caramelisation instead of colloidal suspension.

Good luck!

[lavacarancher]

OK folks, I'll try again but none of the suggestions seem to be the culprit. I have been making jellies and jams for quite some time and follow the recipe with great care.

Here are the two things that I may have had some influence. 1) I didn't want the pulp in the jelly so I cooked the peppers in the prescribed amount of cider vinegar then strained the pulp out, careful to get all the juice out as possible. 2) I boiled the sugar mixture exactly one minute FROM THE TIME IT STARTED THE ROLL and removed it from the heat immediately at one minute.

If either one of these may have caused the problem please let me know and thanks again for the suggestions.

[labradors]

Can't say, vaquero.

The potential culprits that had been mentioned were too much sugar (but the amounts and proportions you mentioned were consistent with other, known-tested recipes), too much pectin (which didn't seem to be the problem, so we didn't pursue it), or cooking too long (which you seem to have ruled out).

Since the experts at the Ball Jar company and several other experienced canners all agreed that those three things would be the only things they would consider based upon your description of the problem, it would seem that something else needs to be examined - perhaps the amount of pectin (since we hadn't addressed that, yet).

Try the contact page of the site I mentioned earlier - maybe even calling the toll-free number yourself. Perhaps if you describe it to them directly, rather than our having to present it second hand, they may spot something that is currently being missed. If so, please post the response here, so we may be aware of it, as well.