Reducing sugar in cowboy candy

10 years ago

Hello all,

I am new to canning and was so happy to stumble upon this forum before I started because it is full of useful information. I don't even look at other websites for canning questions because I have come to only trust this one with all the expert advice. Anyway, I have looked through numerous threads trying to find out if I could reduce the sugar in cowboy candy.

My family likes spicy foods and I thought these would be a sweet and spicy element. I recently made a batch a month ago and tried them the other day and I found them to be not spicy at all and only sugary. Don't get me wrong people liked them but I was hoping for more of a kick along with the sweet.

Ingredients
3 pounds Firm, Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, Washed
2 cups Cider Vinegar
6 cups White Granulated Sugar
half teaspoons Turmeric
half teaspoons Celery Seed
3 teaspoons Granulated Garlic
1 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper

Is there anyway I would be able to safely reduce the sugar in this recipe and still make it safe to can? I have read you can reduce sugar safely in some recipes but not others so I wanted to ask here to be sure. Thank you in advance for the help!

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Comments (6)

2ajsmama
10 years ago
Sure, it's 100% vinegar brine so you can reduce the sugar as much as you want. Of course, at some point you're just going to end up with pickled peppers, so if you don't want sweet at all, why don't you just start with a pickled pepper recipe? You can even do just *some* sugar and end up with sort of a bread and butter pickled pepper.

Here's just one - NCHFP has many vegetable pickle recipes, you can always sub hot peppers for sweet (in same amount/weight, obviously not count) if a bell pepper recipe looks interesting.

The Joy of Pickling has a lot of pepper recipes too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled peppers
ekgrows
10 years ago
Jalapenos can be maddening. Some are hot, others, not so much. When I make "jalapeno" jelly, I usually end up using mostly serranos. Maybe try a hotter pepper?
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AlyssaLee
Original Author
10 years ago
ajsmama: I have about 15 pints of plain pickled jalapenos in my pantry right now because my family puts them on everything from breakfast burritos to pizza. We just love it. I was hoping to get a sweet and spicy mix to serve with cream cheese and crackers for the Holiday's. Anyway thank you for your reply I will decrease the sugar and see how it goes with my next batch.

ekgrows: I didn't think to use a hotter pepper I'll have to try that. I often mix jalapenos with hotter peppers when I am making salsa because I never know if I'm gonna get hot jalapenos or not. Thank you for your response as well.
User
9 years ago
I have found this recipe in several places online, but always with directions for water bath canning. Do you ever pressure can it? If not, why not?
hollylasue
8 years ago
I know this is an older thread but if using the above recipe, could some of the sugar be replaced by honey? If so how much could safely be replaced and would Tue other ingredients have to he changed?
digdirt2
8 years ago
You can in this particular recipe because it is a straight vinegar recipe so it can cope with the changed pH. In any recipe for these that calls for diluted vinegar it wouldn't be as safe. But it will change the flavor and alter the gel coating result. How much is up to you but the general recommendation is no more than 1/4 of the total amount. And of course the standard limitations on using honey would apply - no young children or adults with compromised immune systems.

Dave

Reducing sugar in cowboy candy

Comments (6)

2ajsmama

ekgrows

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Reducing sugar in cowboy candy

Comments (6)

2ajsmama

ekgrows

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hollylasue

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