Last night I made the small batch recipe and have a few questions. Since I have seen on other post not to double jam recipes I did two seperate batches to process at once. Chopped apricots soaked in vinegar overnight(Fri), next morning I had to leave so I put the apricots into 2 seperate plastic containers(Sat) Arrived home too late to do , so Sunday afternoon I continued, chopped and measured peppers and onions and cooked into 2 seperate bathces. I measured very carefully. The first 3 jars (1/2 pints) there was about 1 tbs. left, the second 3 jars, there was about 1/3 pints left. Why? All set up quiclky as I wasn't even able to move around to mix in the peppers and onions. Is the jam still okay considering the fact that the apricots were soaking for two days? Cuppboard or fridge? Next time I will try the big batch. Any difference in taste as I really liked the flavor of this one?

Ok, so I made the confetti jelly this weekend... I used Carol's larger batch recipe. I brought four dried habaneros (8 halves or various sizes from very small to large) just to a boil in half the vinegar and then steeped it for an hour or so. I used the other half of the vinegar to soak the apricots, which I microwaved for a few seconds to warm them up. When it was time to make the jelly, I used tongs to remove the peppers and squeeze them slightly. I used one jalapeno in place of the 1/4 cup of fresh habanero. It worked fine and is plenty hot enough for me. When I made a second batch, I used a long red pepper (since I was out of jalapenos). This time it was part of the 1 1/4 cups total of peppers and onions. (I was using up the very last of the peppers I had bought.) The sugar was not dissolving well and it seemed quite thick, so I ended up adding another 1/4 cup of vinegar to the mixture. It seemed thin when the jars were still hot. I ended up having to twirl it several times, but it set up fine as it cooled. It doesn't move when you turn the jar. I made the inferno wine jelly. I probably should have steeped the dried peppers ahead of time. It will need a different name as it is more like mild pepper wine jelly. This one foamed quite a bit. It didn't have as many peppers as a percentage so it was frustrating trying to skim the foam without taking the peppers too. In recipes that have more peppers, I don't worry if I skim out a few. I probably won't bother to make this one again. I'm taking a break from pepper jellies for a few weeks. I have over 40 jars for the craft fair now.

Boy, if you arrive at a perfect understanding of commercial pectin, let us know. Annie and I both have discussed the unreliability of its performance. And now I'm trying to remember - I was just reading something from a big-time jam-maker. Sorry, can't recall who - who said the commercial pectins give preservers a false sense of infallibility. Ironically, regular commercial pectins (as opposed to NSA) require more sugar rather than less for the set. Now, to answer your questions. Powder and liquid are not interchangeable. Recipes for each are formulated differently. However, generally I have not had problems substituting one brand of the same type for another. For example, Certo liquid should work fine where I specified Ball liquid. It's purely personal but I like Ball better because I detect less of an obnoxious chemical aftertaste. I really loathe liquid pectin and use it only in Habanero Gold for that reason. Usually if you go to their websites, you'll see that makers of the NSA pectin (like that abbreviation) have formulated their own copycat recipes for these popular jellies which do make it possible to use much less sugar. However, I would guess at some point the hot-sweet balance might be lost. There's also the tartness of the vinegar to account for, and that can't be reduced because with all the peppers it's important to safety. However, cider vinegar has a natural sweetness distilled doesn't, so less sweetening would be required. You could take that peach-pepper relish I posted and try reducing the sugar with that. It doesn't call for commercial pectin, so there's more latitude as the thickening comes naturally from the long cooking down. However, as sugar is cut in those traditional recipes, the preserve loses its gloss and sheen; mouthfeel changes and the longevity of the product once opened is reduced. However, you mentioned preferring that tarter taste, so it's a possibility. You could also try a mixture of re-constituted dried apricots and peaches with the peppers for something akin to the Habanero Gold. I'm sure once Forum members start playing with that recipe they'll come up with all kinds of intriguing permutations. Carol

Bejay, The texture and how they behave is really different btwn dried and fresh/frozen. You could try it with a much-reduced amount of liquid (vinegar); the result would presumably be sweeter because of having less sour to counterbalance? This may be one recipe where you want to break down and use store-bought dried fruit. For one thing, it tastes SO GREAT with the dried fruit, and I find that FRESH apricots make SUCH a difference in so many other recipes (jams, curds, etc.) that I figure, you may as well use the fresh and frozen ones in places where they'll be an asset like that, and use the commecial dried ones in this recipe where they actuall work better! Z, jealous of the 'cots in your freezer; the season for them is SO short here, coinciding with a time when we travel a lot for craft shows, and nobody right in the region grows them, so I missed out on any fresh local ones entirely this season.... and they're my FAVE fruit of all... I am not sure I would trade the white Christmases for them, but ALmost...