Yes. I use concentrated frozen juices instead of adding water. Because the liquids you mentioned are not 100% juice, but a mix of corn sugars and water, it may add a slight amount of flavor. A lot of these are only 10% juice, so 45% is also better..

Hello, Kendra, I responded the first time on the original thread but had to think a while about what you want to do.

100% commercial fruit juices can be used to make jams, but that wasn't really your question, which is about amending the Hab Gold Jelly recipe. Well, it's already beyond "amended", LOL.

Since you're only concerned about syrup or glaze instead of jelly in this instance and may not even use pectin, I don't see a problem with it, especially if you cook down the juices or juice drinks to reduce the water.

Those pure flavorings, like the cherry you mentioned, are very powerful and if used in excess would add an undesireable note of bitterness. You might try just a drop or so in one jar at the end as a test to see how it turns out so you're not putting the whole batch at risk.

Other thoughts: Have you considered honey as a sweetener. If you use principally honey, even if you did use pectin, it wouldn't jell. And honey might add another flavor element you find appealing plus its characteristics work well for a glaze.

Also, last year I posted a recipe for a peach "relish" that you may find interesting because I think it might make an intriguing glaze, though you might find yourself pureeing it or chopping in the food processor before bottling. Just something to play around with, perhaps.

The Habanero Gold link includes the recipe and some discussion of it.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Peach and Pepper Relish

Thanks everyone for your help.....And Carol that peach and pepper relish looks great and may be up next for some trial runs.
Here is what I ended up with (my heavily amended hab gold recipe..;))

4 cups peach nectar (45%fruit juice)
4 cups apricot nectar (45% fruit juice)
1 cup black cherry extract
1 cup each diced finely (used food processer for finer dice) of dried peaches, dried apricots, and dried tart cherries
2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped fatalli peppers
3 cups vinegar
7 cups sugar

*still let sit overnight like original recipe*

I let the fruit juices simmer while I did the chopping and that reduced their volumes a bit. I found that using the food processor on the dried fruit worked wonderfully.
I eliminated the red bell pepper because with the addition of all that fruit the flavor was lost plus I wanted to make sure you got some onion flavor and this allowed me to increase my onion amount.
I used fatalli pepper which is awesomely hot (one of the very hottest habaneros) but with all that sugar which counteracts the capsaicin, it is actually only reasonably hot.
I left the pectin out because with all that sugar I was able to just cook to 225 degrees or so and it turned out just syrupy/glazy just like I wanted.
Plus the extra fruit juices added some volume so this batch was not soooo chunky and full as the last batch.

Tried some on some shrimp last night and it was wonderful. We just used it as a glaze in the last few minutes of cooking time. I was licking my fingers the whole time.

Thanks everyone again for your help
Kendra

Just curious. When you say "1 cup black cherry extract", do you mean "extract" (i.e. as in lemon or vanilla extract/essence, usually with alcohol) or do you mean concentrate?

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I'm not so much for the hot-hot, but I can definitely see the possibilities.

Carol

Carol...good point and I was thinking about that today. The jar says Black Cherry Extract, but the ingredient list is just black cherry juice and it comes in a 16 oz jar from the health food store.
Sooooo, I think it is technically a concentrate instead. Especially because some of the recommended uses on the bottle inclued diluting with seltzer water to make a cherry soda.

We will see if other hot food lovers like it, I am going to a sort of chile pepper convention/camp out/picking event this weekend in Indiana and we are having an amatuer contest. I am going to enter this and see what people think.
thanks
kendra

Well, back from the Indiana event.....Everyone loved it. We served it on shrimp and passed it out to all attending. It got rave reviews. I entered it in the contest but I didn't place. I am not worried since I had to enter the "other" category and there were so many excellent innovative food items with chile peppers in it, I knew I didn't stand a chance (Hot Toffee, Hot lollie pops, hot relishes, hot caramels, etc, etc).

In other news and whether he wants it posted or not..:)
John (show me) won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in the "salsa" competition with variations on Annie's Salsa....Big Congratulations go out to him...:)

kendra