Some Like it Hot, A Love Affair with Hot Peppers

I have had a life long love affair with spicy food. Not just spicy, but but the kind of spicy that could peel paint. I have to have an impartial taste tester (read Still Waters my husband) to verify that what I prepared for a dinner party isn't going to set someone on fire... Since what I think is mild, would be agony to those who are uninitiated.

For many years, about the only "hot" pepper you could find in the grocery store were very sad, slightly shriveled jalapeno peppers. So I had to grow my own peppers to get the burn I wanted in my spicy dishes. Although it has been too long ago to remember, my passion for fiery peppers may be the reason that I began to garden in the first place... But in 2019 it is possible to find a variety of hot peppers in higher end grocery stores and there are a number of ethnic markets who cater to cultures where spicy food is a way of life, so don't despair if you can't grow your own peppers to meet your needs. If to look around you will probably find a local source of fresh hot peppers!

In my garden I have two 3 ft. by 25 ft. beds of peppers. One bed is filled with a variety of sweet bell peppers in an array of beautiful colors ranging from yellow to deep purple, along with some banana peppers, paprika peppers and pepperoncini. The other bed is filled with  "Hurts So Good Peppers" that I cautiously pick while wearing nitrile gloves. In this bed I have a spectrum of hot peppers, jalapenos, serrano, Thai bird chiles, cayenne, habanero, and ghost peppers. Next year I will add Carolina Reapers to the line up, since I waited too late to order and I couldn't get my hands on seed this past spring.

I think this Ghost Pepper just looks spicy...

So how do I use all these hot peppers? Well, there are many ways to prepare these bad boys for use in cooking. Fresh peppers don't have a long shelf life, so I chop and freeze them for a just picked taste to add to raw salsas and other dishes where fresh is best. I make a cooked Habanero Mango Salsa when mangoes are in season and the India market has a good price on them. This salsa is good for knocking the chill off when the weather goes cold. It is delicious with chips, but also adds delightful personality to a humble bowl of black beans and rice.

I have to make this salsa in bulk. It is a household favorite
and we burn through a lot of it

Some of the peppers lend themselves well to drying, but to keep my dehydrator from infusing pepper oils on my dried apples and other dehydrated foods, I never put hot peppers in my dehydrator: instead I use my Stack!t , if the Stack!t is full of drying herbs, I lay them out on screens in the shade to air dry when weather is fine. I often string cayenne peppers on threads with a needle on one end, that hangs in the kitchen where I can add them to the string as I bring them in from the garden day by day.

I keep a thread and tapestry needle hanging in the kitchen
to string on excess cayenne peppers to dry.

I waited too long to order my Carolina Reaper seeds this year,
but not to worry, my son generously shared some of his stash of his with me!

 I smoke many of the peppers and freeze them on trays then put them in doubled freezer bags. These can be taken out one at a time to use in cooking. I also combine these with other peppers that have spent 3 months fermenting, to make a "curl your hair" hot sauce. This sauce is sublime with high notes of orange peel and the deep rich flavors of hickory, mesquite  and cacao. I also ferment the Thai bird chiles whole to use in Thai food or to add some heat to my raw, fermented, mixed vegetable Chow Chow.

I smoke habanero peppers and freeze them on a tray
to keep them separate, then package in small freezer bags.

Some peppers have a great taste, but can over power the flavor of a dish with their heat. To have the greatest control over their contribution to a dish, I tincture these peppers in grain alcohol for a month or so. When they have infused their essence into the alcohol, I strain and bottle the tincture. I wear a mask, safety goggles and heavy chemical grade rubber gloves for this process, since even vapors can burn soft tissues and you definitely don't want to accidentally get any on your skin! I bottle this tincture in amber bottle (recycled beer bottle work great!) and cap it with a crimp style bottle capper. This tincture will last forever. For use in the kitchen, I have a 2 oz. amber dropper bottle that I keep with my spices so that I can add a drop or 2 to a pot of chili, Indian food or other dish that calls for some real heat and authentic ethnic flavor.

I tincture Habanero, Ghost and Carolina Reaper Peppers in
190 proof grain alcohol to  use drop by drop in cooking.

Extreme care should be used when decanting this tincture.
 It could injure eyes and soft tissue, and you would experience
 an uncomfortable burning sensation for hours if you get it on the skin.
 Use safety glasses, heavy gloves and a face mask when
pouring the tincture off into bottles. But don't let that put you off...
the results are worth the caution you need to take!

The use of hot peppers has benefits beyond taste and an endorphen induced sense of well being, they can be used medicinally as well. The capsaicin, a constituent of all hot peppers, has many medicinal purposes. Most commonly, the cayenne pepper is used for skin applications, since it is less likely to be irritating to the skin. Cayenne capsaicin is used topically to treat Psoriasis and to reduce the pain of are muscles, R. arthritis, O.arthritis and Fibromyalgia. Capsaicin can reduce the incidence of cluster headaches, and help ease the pain during an episode. Scientific studies show undeniable evidence that capsaicin is effective in the treatment of cancerous tumors and aids in the apoptosis of cancerous cells, which would prevent cancer from occurring in the first place. It also causes an increase in metabolism which is helpful in weight loss efforts.

My passion for spicy food and my desire to use the peppers for medicinal purposes has led me to find many ways to preserve and use hot peppers. I hope that this post will inspire you to give hot peppers a chance or to try some new ways to use them!

 I love comments and would be happy to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment!

*As a note of caution, spicy peppers are able to burn soft tissues, eyes and skin; they should be treated with respect. They can also  can cause uncomfortable digestive distress for the uninitiated. Please don't try to prove how much fire you can take by ingesting a pepper or produce made with them, you could live to regret it.

Now That's My Kind of Jelly! How to Make Low Sweet, No Muss, No Fuss, Set Every Time Jelly

Jelly making has been a traditional fall event at Heart's Ease Cottage for many, many years. When the children were small it was a late night venture, when I didn't have to worry about "littles" under foot. Once the kids were grown it was easier to make it a daytime project. No matter what the time of day it is, or time of year for that matter, setting the mood is an important part of the process. I fling the windows open, turn the ceiling fans on high, crank up the tunes and make a lovely mess out of my kitchen.

 I freeze fruits from our gardens over the summer to use in the fall. I also look forward to harvesting apples and pears from the mountain farms in the fall for jelly and other thing like fruit leathers and dried apple rings (but that is a post for another day). Many times I will cook down fruit and extract the juice for jelly, putting it in freezer bags to be made into jelly at a later date. This cuts the jelly making time down and decompresses the whole process a good bit. In recent years, I haven't often had a whole day to devote to a kitchen project, so breaking the process into smaller pieces makes it more likely that I will actually get all the way through to jars of jelly sitting on the shelf.

In the past, homemade jelly required more cups of sugar than cups of fruit juice in order to get the jelly to set. Our diet does not allow for much refined sweetener so a lot of the jelly was made for gift giving and not for our consumption. The exception would be Still Water's personal blackberry jelly stash, which he guards jealously and is reluctant to share even within the household...

But then one day I made a discovery that changed what we could keep in our larder for our own use. Traditional pectin gels by a sugar/pectin/acid trifecta that can be a bit unpredictable and requires a huge amount of sugar to get the jelly to set. But much to my delight I discovered a citrus pectin that gels due to a reaction between the pectin and a solution of calcium carbonate. No sugar is required to get a gel and it's set is very consistent and reliable. The fruit juice sets to jelly as the mixture cools; no spoon testing required to determine if it will set!

So rather than talk about how to make traditional apple pectin jelly, I am going to walk through the process of jelly making using citrus pectin and calcium carbonate. The product that I use is called Pomona Universal Pectin. It is a little pricey, but when you consider how much sugar can be eliminated from a recipe and the fact that you can get 22 cups of jelly out of a box, it is really quite a good deal!

For our family wholesome and nutritious is tantamount. What we put in our body needs to nourish and strengthen us. We like sweets as well as the next person, but not at the expense of our health and immune system. So I was thrilled when I found a pectin that doesn't require sugar to set the jelly! (Ball makes a no sugar needed pectin, but it has dextrose in it and I am not a fan so I won't use it, and the set was never spectacular in my experience). Now I can have lovely fruit spread for bagels and sandwiches without having to poison myself with sugar!

The name of the pectin is Pomona's Universal Pectin. It has been around awhile, but the price always put me off and after my experience with Ball's "no sugar needed" pectin, I was reluctant to give it a try. Then Healthy Home Market went out of business and was selling everything a 75% off so I bought a box. I used it  the next day and was so thrilled with the results that I went back and bought every box that was on the shelf!

What makes Pomona so great?  No sweetener is necessary, since the jelling action come from a combination of citrus pectin, calcium and citric acid. Of course, you can sweeten the jelly to your personal taste with the sweetener of your choice. The directions cover a number of different ways you can sweeten your jelly, everything from no sweetener to stevia, agave, honey and yes should you choose to do so, sugar.  It also can be used to make jello. But hold on! There is more good news! You can make as many batches at once as you like!  Ball pectin cannot be doubled, but must be jellied one batch at a time because of the fickle nature of apple pectin. But Pomona Universal Pectin is made from citrus pectin and uses calcium to create the jell so it will consistently jell no matter how many batches you put in the jelly pot. Also one box of pectin will make 22 8 oz. jars of jelly, where Ball pectin renders only 8- 8 oz. jars per box. And if that isn't enough, there is no need for a jelly thermometer, no boiling to the jelly point and testing for set, you just add the directed amount of calcium to the fruit juice, mix the pectin with the sweetener and when the juice and calcium come to a boil; add the sweetener/pectin blend stir until dissolved and return to a boil for one minute. No need to check for set, just ladle into sterilized jars, clean rims, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. The jelly will set when cool.

So now that I have expounded on the virtues of Pomona pectin, I will share my recipe for Blueberry Lime Jelly!

                                                     Blueberry Lime Jelly

One recipe makes 4 cups of jelly.

4 cups of rendered blueberry juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
the zest of one lime (I always use organic limes, conventionally grown citrus is sprayed with a fungicide that won't completely wash off)
1/2 cup honey
4 tsp. pectin
4 tsp. calcium

For each batch of jelly that renders 4 cups, use 3 cups of mashed fruit and extract the juice by boiling the fruit with 1 cup of bottled apple juice or other juice that won't compete with the flavor of your fruit.(I use organic fruit and organic apple juice but the choice is yours).

Crush the fresh berries and add apple juice. Cook over medium heat to extract the juice from the berries.

I only use organic citrus zest since commercially grown citrus is
 sprayed heavily with pesticides and fungicides that won't come completely
off the skins when washed.

I have a plane zester that I swear by. The zest comes off the fruit in fine strands
and leaves all the white pith on the lime. 

I use organic apple juice, but any juice flavor you want can be used, just
 be sure that the flavor of the juice compliments the fruit.

I usually make 3 or 4 batches at a time since the pectin works on multiple batches. Really, who only makes 4 jars of jelly at a time? I usually make enough jars to fill the canner.

Once the juice has been extracted, ladle the cooked fruit pulp and juice into a strainer lined with cheese cloth.

Strain cooked fruit pulp and juice through a double layer of
cheese cloth suspended over a pan by a mesh. strainer

 Allow the juice to drip into a bowl or pan until it stops actively dripping. Then pull up the corners of the cheesecloth, twist the drawn up corners until tight against the pulp and twist and squeeze the remaining juice through the strainer until all the juice is out of the pulp. The total amount of juice needed is 4 cups of juice per batch.

Allow the juice to drip until it slows perceptibly

When the juice stops dripping by itself, draw up the corners of the cheesecloth
and twist tight against to pulp. Twist, press and squeeze until all the
 possible juice is removed then compost the pulp.

Remove the pectin and the calcium from the box, (the smaller packet is the calcium). In a small jar put the contents of the packet and add 1/2 cup water, put on a lid and shake until powder is completely dissolved in water.  You will be using  4 tsp. of calcium per batch of jelly.

Mix the packet of calcium with 1/2 cup water and shake until dissolved.
Any leftover calcium liquid should be stored in the fridge.

Put the juice in your jelly pot, add 4 tsp. calcium, 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice the zest of 1 lime, per batch, and heat to a boil. While the juice is heating, mix together well, 1/2 cup honey per batch of jelly  ( you can add up to 1 cup of honey if 1/2 cup, isn't sweet enough) and 4 tsp. pectin.

Bring the juice to a full boil, add sweetener/pectin mixture and stir vigorously 1-2 minutes until dissolved. Once the liquid is at a full boil, take the pot off the heat an ladle into sterilized jars. using a spoon carefully remove any scum or bubbles from the surface of the jelly.

 Clean the rims with a clean cloth, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove jars with a jar lifter and place on the counter to cool. The jelly will set once the jars and liquid are completely cool. Could take overnight to set.

Wipe the rim of the jars with a clean damp cloth, then apply the flat part of a
two part lid that has been in boiling water. Add the band and adjust to just finger tight.

*Note: If you are used to regular ball pectin you will be surprised at how few jars of jelly you get per batch. The reason is that you aren't using 7 to nine cups of sugar per batch, so you are basically getting one cup of jelly per cup of juice. It is healthy and practically guilt free!

All the jelly I have made with this pectin has come out perfectly. There has been no loose or runny jelly, just firm spreadable jelly that is lightly sweet so that all the lovely fruit flavor comes through. If you try the pectin, or the recipe, please pop back to my blog and tell me what you think!