Recipe: Hot Pepper Jelly

Nov. 13, 2024

I used to manage the original Two Boots Restaurant in the East Village in the 1990s. We had a sister restaurant called The Levee on First and First. Being a southern-themed restaurant, they naturally offered the most delicious cornbread before the meal. But what I really remember to this day is that theirs came with a bonus—a plentiful dollop of house-made hot pepper jelly. Growing up on Long Island I had never seen such a thing, but my oh my! Boy did that glossy, sweet and spicy sauce with specks of color complement the moist yet crumbly texture of the cornbread. Ever since I have been thinking about making my own jelly, and yesterday, when I looked in my veggie drawer and saw a handful of mild and hot peppers from the farm winking at me, I knew it was the day. I will definitely be bringing a jar to Thanksgiving to go with my sweet potato biscuits. Try yours on savory pancakes, over goat cheese with crackers, or with your own favorite cornbread. 

Hot Pepper Jelly

2 Jimmy Nardello peppers, or half a red bell pepper and half a green bell pepper, or some combination of mild peppers that you have on hand

5 small hot peppers: jalapenos, habaneros, cherry bomb, serrano, chile de arbol, or some combination of hot peppers that you have on hand

¾ cup white vinegar

¼ tsp salt

1.75 oz box of powdered pectin or 6 tbsp (don’t use low sugar or sugar free pectin)

2 1/2 to 3 cups sugar

Canning jars with lids and rings, or any glass jars if you plan to refrigerate

Directions

  1. First, prepare the jars and the peppers: 
    1. Clean and sterilize canning jars. For regular jars you plan to put into the fridge after filling, wash jars with soapy hot water and rinse clean and put into large pot. Cover with water and bring to boil. Boil for five minutes. Leave in hot water until needed.
    2. Put on food prep gloves to protect your skin from the hot pepper oils. Destem, devein and deseed all the peppers EXCEPT for one of the hot peppers (that should give you enough heat, but not too much). Finely chop by hand or whirl in your food processor until finely chopped but not pureed. Toss peppers into a strainer and let all the juice drain away. If they are too wet, your jelly might not gel. You should end up with around 1 1/2 cups chopped peppers in total.
  2. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, put the drained peppers, vinegar, salt, and powdered pectin. Using a wooden spoon, boil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the sugar and bring to a boil once again, stirring constantly until the boil is rolling even when stirred, for another minute. Remove the pot from the heat.
  4. Carefully remove the hot jars from the pot and place open side up on a kitchen towel. Pour jelly to within ¼” of the top of each jar. Wipe jar rims with a damp, clean cloth. Put canning lids and rings on if canning, or just put on regular jar lids if refrigerating.
  5. Process canning jars in water or steam bath canner per manufacturer’s instructions for 10 minutes OR allow regular jars to cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Canning jars with sealed tops should be fine in the pantry until opened—then refrigerate as with any jelly.

Makes 4-5 half-pint canning jars.

Don’t forget to take a picture of your colorful jelly jars and share with the farm on Instagram, Facebook, or by email!

By Melissa Bogursky

← Return to blog