Congratulations! To both you and DD.

What's pineapple upside down cake jam?

I had bought a bunch of canned pineapple and was using it in tomato jams, so DD decided to use some in her jam, we were thinking pina colada but she likes maraschino cherries too so I found this freezer jam recipe on Ball's site and she used no-sugar pectin instead of the freezer pectin. I still have to put the jars in and out of the canner for her since she's so short. She loves to use the HS tool, and has gotten "finger-tight" down to a science. Hopefully next year she'll be tall enough to use the canner though I would feel better getting a spring-loaded jar lifter for her.

Here is a link that might be useful: Upside Down Cake Jam

This post was edited by ajsmama on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 4:50

Congrats to you and your daughter, Sheila! Those jellies sound delicious! Now, I know you're not supposed to "tweak" approved recipes, but do you think there's any way to sneak habaneros and ground cinnamon into the Red Hot Candy Apple recipe vs. the candy? Maybe soak them in vinegar first? I just had a bountiful harvest of red Habs, and I'm looking for new ideas to use them up.
If not, no big deal. If YES, maybe you could post your idea on the Hot Pepper side on the "First Stab at Pepper Jelly" thread? (By far my favorite thread! Lots of great recipes!)
I agree, Annie's Salsa is "to die for!" Absolutely delicious! I've made TONS this year!

Congrats again!
Mike

I'll keep it over here, Mike, maybe someone will have some ideas - though you should start a new thread so people will look at it. I wouldn't use ground cinnamon in the jelly b/c it will make it cloudy. You could try cinnamon extract, though I don't think you're really looking for a cinnamon jelly - sounds like you want more pepper flavor with all those habs to use.

Of course you know you can use habs in the "Gold", and you've done it with dried peaches instead of apricots. Peach season is over now, but next year try fresh peaches and Peach Jam for a Cold Morning (I also did a version of Peach Lime from Small Batch Preserving with 1 Hinkelhatz, a hab instead would be great since I would have liked more heat).

For a jelly (besides the Gold) you can buy pineapple juice, maybe peach juice (I don't know how much that would cost), or apple juice (cheaper) and follow directions for any jalapeno-apple jelly you like, subbing habs for jals (I personally would use fewer but I'm a wimp, just don't go over specified amount to maintain safe acid levels). Of course there are pepper jellies that use vinegar too, but IMHO (maybe not yours or other chileheads!) subbing the habs (or your bhuts) for the sweet peppers or jalapenos in those would be incendiary (safe from botulism but still "dangerous" LOL)!

Ottawapepper has a good one called Turkey's Revenge (I saw it on a recent post on Peppers), that calls for cranberry juice - I don't know how that would taste with habs but it's good with jals.

Thanks Sheila. Actually, I am looking for a spicy apple cinnamon jelly. It sounds really good. Just looking for more ideas to use up my Habs. Guess I'll jump on Google.

Thanks,
Mike

The thing is, none of those recipes will really use a lot of habs. You could try a test batch of the Ball jalapeno jam (the recipe I found that uses the most hot pepper, no bells) using habs instead, that uses vinegar and not apple juice so it can use a lot more peppers. And if you want to throw a cinnamon stick or 1/2 tsp of cinnamon extract in you can, though I think the flavor will be lost with all the hab heat. Of course you can do any mix of peppers, up to the 1.25C.

This is written for their automatic jam maker, but that just means it's a small batch and the stirring is done for you. You can skip the butter, and use no-sugar pectin instead (I'd try 3T not 5), bring to a boil, then add the sugar, just stir and keep an eye on it - should take just a minute or 2.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jalapeno Jelly (Jam?)

My 2 cents on using hot peppers. . .

A pepper is a pepper is a pepper. IMO it doesn't matter if you use a Habanero or a Jalapeño or even a Bhut. Just choose the pepper that has the flavor and heat profile you like.

I would finely chop the pepper, then put it in a small bowl with an equal amount of lemon or lime juice. I've found the lemon or lime tends to better fit with the flavor profile of jams. By soaking the pepper, you are acidifying the low acid ingredient, which then makes it safe to add into jam.

I don't know the red hot candy apple jelly. But assuming it's is Apple jelly with red hot candies? Maybe boil your apple juice with a cinnamon stick to get the cinnamon flavor. Then added your acidified peppers to your cinnamon flavored juice when it's time to make the jam?

A pepper is a pepper (by weight /volume) as far as acidity. Just saying that using all habs in a recipe made for jals could be extremely hot. There is a recipe for red hot candy pepper jelly using vinegar but Mike said he didn't want to use the candy. I'll post later when I'm home.

Edited to correct iPhone typos

This post was edited by ajsmama on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 17:20

Thanks pixie Lou and Sheila,
No need to go through the trouble. I've been mincing up hot peppers and soaking them in lemon juice to acidfy them for jellies. Boiling a cinnamon stick in the apple juice sounds like a good idea too.

Back to the main topic of this thread: CONGRATS Sheila! (I seem to have a real problem with hijacking lately! Sorry!)

Mike

Here's one using vinegar and jals - just sub habs. Add a cinnamon stick or some extract. Will look for more later - on the road again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Surejell pepper jelly

Geeze. Sheila! You're too much! When do you rest?! I got up at 5am today (on a Sunday!), poured a cup of coffee, and checked this forum, only to see that you'd already been posting on multiple threads!
I cannot put into words the amount of gratitude I have for your IMMENSE help over the past few months. You've helped me out (from growing to harvest AND BEYOND) more than I can begin to thank you for!
"On the road again"?! You deserve a day for yourself! Kick back, put your feet up, and just relax!
My vote is a Blue Ribbon for YOU for all of your help.

Thanks so much,
Mike

I'm new to making jelly, jams, etc. so I'd love a recipe for tomato jam, although I've made some this year and it's good. I've also made the habanero gold jelly using jalapeño peppers instead, and just jalapeño pepper with sweet red pepper. One recipe I tried used vinegar and fresh lemon juice and I really liked it the best I think. I'm new to this forum, so your recipes are easy to find? I also want to make Annie's salsa.

I slept late today ;-) Last night was a "rest" - after DD and I got home from parade, she changed and the whole family went to pick up our jars and ribbons, then we met my parents at pizza place for dinner, picked up a cake and ice cream and went back to their house to celebrate my birthday 2 weeks late (we've been so busy have had no time to go to dinner - and now anniversary is coming up, I've got no idea when/how we're going to celebrate that b/c rest of the month looks busy too, with DS's awards - see my brag post - my mom visiting my sister's family for niece's b-days, and then coming back right before my dad has surgery).

Anyway, I haven't made the apple-jalapeno (or any pepper jellies except Gold) for a couple years, I can't find the recipe I used, it was mostly apple juice or homemade apple pectin not vinegar so I don't remember how many jalapenos I used, how much lemon juice.

There are a few tomato jam recipes on this forum if you search, I've used the Food in Jars no-pectin recipe successfully with cherry tomatoes (lots of skin and not so much juice as heirlooms, don't try it with really juicy tomatoes). The red-ribbon winner was Orange Minsk tomatoes peeled and sugared per Joy of Jams Tomato-Pineapple preserves recipe, but instead of fresh pineapple I used 1C (drained) of canned crushed pineapple, since that has already been cooked it didn't have the enzyme that hinders the set.

I peeled (raw, not blanched so lost a little flesh) 3 huge Orange Minsk tomatoes for 2.25 lbs. 2C of sugar, let stand all day, lots of liquid but very ripe tomatoes were falling apart once I started cooking them.

Added 4 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 4 Tbsp OJ, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2tsp coriander and 1 Tbsp whole dried birdseye (Thai) peppers. Bring to a boil, add 1/2 a can (drained) crushed pineapple (about 1C). Boil until set.

The next time I made this, I put the pineapple (not drained) in the pan first with the syrup from the sugared tomatoes, the lemon and lime juice (skipped the OJ), and brought that to a "hard simmer" and crushed the pineapple with a potato masher b/c I had bought 6 cans of pineapple chunks (in juice, not syrup) from BJ's and that's what DD used in her jam first. The pineapple chunks were a lot harder/bigger than the crushed - tidbits might work best, the crushed was really shredded and I was *trying* for a preserve with chunks of pineapple and whole yellow cherry tomatoes, but the tomatoes keep falling apart on me and I used the immersion blender on the whole pot, pulled out the skins. A food mill would have worked better. Same spices, skipped the hot peppers in that one.

A 3rd batch used the Orange Minsk again, with crushed pineapple, same juices (incl. OJ) and spices, so it was jam consistency, but instead of whole birdseye peppers which were really spicy (to me and DS) when you bit into one, I added 1Tbsp of crushed red pepper flakes. But that hadn't set up as well by the time of the fair so I didn't enter that. I'll let you know how that goes. I've still got to work out the tomato preserves, but I think I need to use really firm just-ripe cherry tomatoes and it's the end of the season, I don't have any more.

I've also been working on a savory "just tomato" spread using no-sugar pectin but am having a hard time getting a set with the juicy heirlooms I've tried this year.

Hooray, I'm glad my salsa recipe got a blue for you, it got a blue ribbon for my granddaughter here in Michigan too.

You have a better Fair time, though, our fair here is the first week of July. Heck, nothing in the garden is ready then except lettuce, radishes and a few stray zucchini, maybe some garlic. It would be more fun if they'd have it the end of August or the first part of September, geez, there would be lots more garden stuff.

Annie

This is the 2nd blue at this fair, and I think it won blue at a grange fair a few years ago too. I've changed it up a little (half lemon, half lime instead of vinegar, no sugar, no black pepper, and this last time I skipped the tomato sauce, just didn't seed the tomatoes, b/c the first batch was awfully salty this year, the Goya tomato sauce I bought has salt and spices, I can't seem to find PLAIN tomato sauce any more). I also put more hot peppers in ;-) instead of sweet peppers.

There is a grange fair in early Sept that would be great since by mid-Oct I don't know what veggies I'm going to have and how they're going to look, so don't enter anything but canned goods, but it's the same day as Open Farm Day so I've been busy the past couple of years. I did enter some jams and jellies (I don't remember if I entered salsa) about 3 years ago.

I was intending to enter this year (drop stuff off the night before), but their website is awful and I wasn't able to get a copy of rules or entry forms even though I messaged them through Facebook. Next year I'll try to stop by - the phone number listed on the Grange website is out of service so FB or in person seem to be the only way to get in touch with them.

Do you let Monkey Princess put stuff in and take jars out of the canner? How tall is she? That's the one part I don't let DD do herself.

The Princess is about an inch shorter than I am, I'm five feet tall and maybe a squidge over, so everything is set up for someone my size. She'll be eleven in just a couple of weeks, so I let her put them in and take them out, but I lift and lower the rack for her. She loves to cook and is comfortable with the oven, the stovetop, the electric kettle, the food processor, the coffee roaster and the Chemex coffee pot. I'm diligent about supervising but let her do nearly everything herself, even use the sharp knives. She did fail to click the lid shut on the electric kettle and burned herself making coffee with the Chemex, but it was minor and she learned quickly, albeit the hard way.

For her next year's fair entry she wants to make banana jam, she found a recipe on-line, LOL.

Annie

I remembered the girls are very close in age - I'm 5'2" but DD is only 4'6" and I don't have the rack, I use the PC rack in a stockpot. I have to get new jarlifters when she's taller she might be able to do it but with the old ones I'm afraid she'll drop the jars even when she's tall enough to lift them in and out of the pot.

I don't let her use sharp knives yet either - she's still learning to handle a butter knife for cutting and though she's right-handed she insists on using the knife in her left hand - I don't think that's going to work for steak knives or chef knives, but maybe after she's used to cutting with her left hand I'll let her try a paring knife. Maybe I can get her to switch hands when prepping even if not when eating.

She loves using the FP and immersion blender, got bored with the Victorio though. She burnt the back of her hand on my mom's toaster oven a couple of years ago (still has the mark) and is very leery of the oven, I pull out the rack and let her put the pan on but then I take the pan out. Once her hands are big enough to use the mitts I'll have her do muffins (easy to grab the pan and not heavy) and work her way up.

Congrats on the blue ribbons.
I tried this salsa for the first time this year and everyone loves it.
kim

Thanks - the batch I made today had even more hot peppers (half of the total amount of peppers) and DH didn't think it was hot enough! Well, we ate the leftover almost-pint mixed into a quart and an almost-pint of yellow tomato soup left over from earlier in the week. The soup was hot enough for me, he had to add hot sauce to it (but he was sweating). We'll see how he likes it when he cracks a pint open later this winter - I know it's too hot for me with 1C of serrano/jalapenos (which seemed hotter than normal this year) and 1C of sweet peppers.

Annie - did you get all moved? Did you have to rent a refrigerated truck for all your freezer contents or did you just move in coolers?

Nope, not all moved. We've gutted the kitchen in the "new" house, and drywall is being installed now. Then we have to paint and we are tearing down the ceiling tiles while the contractors are building walls. My cabinets will be here in 4 weeks, 3 more weeks for countertops. I still haven't even looked at light fixtures or faucets and I'm NOT picking out paint again, I'm just going to paint the same color I painted here before we put the house up for sale. I hate color and I hate decorating, I'd rather fix fence and shovel calf pens. (sigh)

We've moved one freezer and all of the canned goods, but we used the trailer and coolers. Since it's supposed to be a high of 42F on Saturday, it's getting cool enough that I can move the stuff 20 miles to the farm without fear of thawing.

We'll move furniture after the drywall is up, taped and sanded, and painted, which could be another month or so. I'm hoping I have a kitchen by Christmas, canning has been an adventure this year!

Annie

Glad you have time to move incrementally. I thought you were closing on the house you sold and had to be out ASAP!

Ah, decorating - I started out on the decorating forum years ago when we built. I'm interested, but have no talent and a bit of fear. I still have an unfinished bathroom, rooms with no trim, unfinished doors (though not from fear, just lack of time during good weather), picture frames under my bed instead of on the wall, and curtains and fabric waiting to be made into curtains in boxes instead of hanging.