Dragon Fire Hot Pepper Jelly Recipe With Canning Instructions

It’s that time of year again – our gardens are starting to fill up with delicious goodies. And if your bounty is too much to handle, it may be time start your canning. We had an abundance of hot peppers early this year, and this bumper crop meant it was time to make some hot pepper jelly!

So far, we have a lot of peppers on our Basket of Fire plant and Hot Pops (both are edible and ring in about 80,000 sku) and we had some Thai Dragon Peppers  (100,000 sku) and a couple Jalapenos (3,000-5,000 sku) in the freezer a neighbor gave us last year. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all this heat, until someone requested a snack to take to their monthly game night. This recipe turned out great, it’s got a kick of heat and is great on crackers or mixed with cream cheese. Now, we’re just waiting for the Habaneros and ghost peppers to come in and we’ll see how hot we go!

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups Hot Peppers of Choice
• 1/2 cup Green peppers
• 1 1/2 cups White Vinegar
• 6 Cups Sugar
• 2 Packets of Fruit Pectin

Directions:

1. Remove all of the stems from your peppers and toss them into a blender. I did not remove the membranes or seeds since we wanted the heat in this jelly and they will be removed later. Add your vinegar to the blender and pulse on low until finely chopped. *** You may want to wear gloves during this step, some of the oils are extremely hot!***
2. Add your pepper mixture to your stock pot with your sugar and cook together until everything is dissolved. Remove from heat and pour into a jelly strainer. This is the step that will take out all of the seeds and pepper chunks out. If you want bits of pepper in your jelly, remove the seeds and leave the pepper pieces in the syrup you end up creating.
3. Pour your hot pepper jelly into a clean pan and add in your 2 packets of pectin – this may seem like a lot, but you may actually need more. I’ve never had a ton of luck getting pepper jellies to set up with only 1 pectin packet, so keep extra on hand. Mix together until dissolved and heat over medium high heat for 5-10 minutes. Once the mixture hits a boil that you can’t stir down for at least a minute turn off the heat.
4. Ladle into sterile jars, and use within a week or use the instructions below for canning!

Canning Instructions:

1. Place 6 clean 8 oz mason jars on a rack in your stock pot. (always prepare 1 extra jar and lid set than the recipe requires, trust me you will appreciate that if you mess one up!) Fill the jars and stock pot with cool water until it completely covers the top of the jars. Cover and put on medium heat. Simmer but do not boil.
2. Prepare 6 lid sets, put the bands aside and put the flat lids in a small sauce pan and put on medium heat. Do not boil, but keep warm through the whole process.
3. Prepare your Hot Pepper Jelly according to the recipe above.
4. Now, remove the jars from the warm bath. Tip them as you pull them out and pour the water back into the pan. Place them on a towel on the counter with the opening up. Do not dry them! Just put them down and put the funnel in. Ladle the hot jelly into each jar until there is about 1/4 inch of space in the top. Once all jars are full, take a plastic or wooden utensil and move it around to get extra air bubbles out.
5. Take the small magnet tool and remove flat lids from their hot bath. Place over top of each jar. By hand screw on the collars, but not too tight! Remember some air still needs to get out of each jar.
6. Place the jars back into the hot stock pot and replace the lid. Turn your temperature up to high. When it starts to do a rolling boil, start a timer for 10 minutes.
7. After the jars have processed for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the lid to the pan. Let cool for 5 minutes. Remove all the jars without tipping them and place them back on the towel. Remember – don’t towel them off!

Just like that – you’ve got jelly! It does take 24 hours for it to cool and set completely. Hang out for a few minutes after you have finished processing your jars. You will hear a lovely “POP” when the seal is officially done on each jar.

After 24 hours, remove the collar band on each jar and double check your flat lids seal. As long as you can’t easily remove it – you did it right! It’s done and will last for a good long time in your pantry. Remember to store in a dark cool place.

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