Well, the addition of extra peppers or seeds worries me a bit, but all the pepper jelly recipes I've ever seen contain vinegar. Is there vinegar in yours? If you'd post the recipe, it would be easier to answer your question, I think.

Annie

OH, thank you so much for looking at this for me. I am suddenly paranoid. Here is the original recipe:
3 green peppers seeded and deribbed
1/2 cup seeded deribbed fresh hot peppers
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups sugar
6 ounces liquid pectin

We altered it by doing this:
3 green peppers seeded and deribbed
2/3 cup mostly deseeded fresh hot peppers (INCREASED)
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups sugar (CUT)
6 ounces liquid pectin

The sugar isn't the issue. It's the increase in peppers that's worrisome.

Since you want more heat what you should do is reduce the amount of bell pepper as you increase the hot pepper so that the total amount of peppers, both sweet and hot, has not been increased.

I can't answer you on the safety of a recipe with increased peppers. Personally I'm uncomfortable with that. If you consume it, no guarantees.

Carol

I agree. You increased the low acid ingredients without increasing the acid. Granted it was a small amount but that is all it takes to alter the pH of the jelly and and make it unsafe.

As Carol said you should have kept the total amount of low acid ingredients the same.

Dave

OH my, I have no idea about the balanceing of these things. Is there a good resource??

National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) which is referenced here almost hourly ;) is the definitive source on canning and home preserving guidelines and approved recipes. The Ball Blue Book and the Ball Compete Book of Home Preserving as well as many other books discussed here often are also of help. The basic rules of canning - never try to can your own recipes, never increase the amount of low acid ingredients, never change processing times or types, etc. are all covered in most any reputable book on canning.

And NCHFP also cover all the basics. See:
How Do I? ...Can
General Canning Information section at site linked below.

But nothing is more safe than sticking with tested and approved recipes. The ability to modify safely requires training and experience. NCHFP offers a great online course you can take if interested.

And you can always post the recipe here for review - preferably before you make it. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP

I wish I could get my DH to sit down and read this thread. He doesn't understand why I am so "anal" about measuring fruit and sugar for my jams and jellies. I wasn't sure, really, what the consequences would be I just wanted to make sure that they would jell. Thank you for showing me the reason behind the science!

Be careful when reducing sugar when using a regular pectin. Sometimes the pectin needs a specific amount of sugar a recipe calls for just to set. Reducing it more could cause the jelly not to set. Instead of using 3 green peppers, cut that down to two, then you can add the hot peppers you mentioned without concern for safety. Vinegar can be white or cider type. With that being a jelly the cider vinegar makes for a nice mellow taste. If the jelly is green color, add a few pieces of hot red peppers for a color contrast.

Also, you don't say where you got the jelly recipe. Whenever a recipe involves low-acid ingredients I want to know where it came from. If someone made it up, I wouldn't trust it. There are plenty of great hot pepper jelly recipes out there, including Hot & Sweet Confetti Jam by Carol (readinglady), an adaptation of the Habanero Gold recipe published by Bernardin, the Canadian equivalent of Ball.

I'm with you on too-sweet not-hot-enough pepper jelly. I was conservative with the heat when I made Carol's recipe and now I'm going to make a much hotter batch to balance the sweetness.

Melissa

First, I agree, I'd cut the green peppers and increase the hot peppers, not increase the total amount. I'm not really comfortable with it either but I'm betting that 2 cups of vinegar is enough to preserve your peppers since you only went from 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup. No guarantees here when you "tweak" a canning recipe, of course, and truthfully? If it were me, I'd probably pitch it.

The softer set is probably a result of less sugar and commercial pectin. Commercial pectins require a certain amount of sugar to set and if you change the amount, you may get jelly or you may get syrup.

Of course, I think commercial pectin is unreliable and often get syrup even when I use the inordinately large amounts of sugar usually called for!

So, your next batch, cut down the green pepper, increase the hot pepper, keep the vinegar the same and use the lesser amount of sugar. Hopefully you'll get a nicely soft set of hotter, less sweet jelly with the appropriate amounts of pepper to vinegar.

Or not, LOL, but I use hot pepper "syrup" as a glaze for chicken on the grill and it's quite nice.

Annie

If the issue is pH, and from the above comments it is, you can test your jelly's pH and know for sure if it will store safely. (I have just started canning, myself, so I read this thread to see what the folks here thought of the reduced sugar's effect on preserving the food. I don't know anything about that, but I know how to test pH.)

According to the WSU extension site, and others, your food needs to be below 4.6 pH in order to prevent botulism from growing. Having strayed from the recipe, your jelly may be too low in acid/too high of a pH. Maybe not. If you are willing to spend $10-$15 on some pH paper, (or you know someone in a science lab) you can find out your jelly's pH.

You will have to find narrow-range pH paper, I have used pHydrion brand, in the range of 2.8-4.6. I've just found that for $8 on the site in the link below.

When I tested my jelly, I first placed some pH paper in vinegar and/or lemon juice, to test that the paper was working properly. It indicated a PH lower than 2.8, which is correct. I tested each batch--luckily I did not have to open sealed jars; I had some extra from each batch that went into the fridge.

I warmed my jelly to make it more spreadable, massaged it onto the paper, then wiped it off and compared the paper to the color chart. I also did a run where I added a couple of drops of distilled water to make the jelly more spreadable. It had the same results, but was a little easier to do.

Since a roll of pH paper will last for many years, it seems an excellent investment--especially for beginning canners!

Oh, I just found this excellent resource. I wish I had it a month ago!
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/formulatingdressings.PDF

Here is a link that might be useful: chemassociates.com

pH is not infallible. In a high-acid mixture you may have low-acid chunks (unlikely for a jelly like this but still possible and certainly well within bounds of possibility for something like salsa).

You'd need to strain out the pepper and onion bits from the jelly. Calculate by weight what proportion is solids and what proportion is jelly.

Blend and identify pH for the solids. Do the same for the jelly and calculate an average pH based on proportions of each.

That's still not the same as a lab doing it, but it's a closer approximation.

Carol

If you are concerned about how much sugar to use to insure setting of you jam/jelly product, stop worrying about how much sugar and use POMONA PECTIN and even use NO SUGAR. Sugar is NOT required to make your product set. Yes, it is more expensive but one small box will do 2 or 3 batches instead on one. There is information out there also using CLEAR JEL to set jams/jelly. This is an approved special corn starch to thicken procucts. You CANNOT use regular corn starch. I order my Clear Jel on the internet and you may find it locally depending where you live. I guess my point is that there are more healthy alternatives to thickening products than the things you can buy at the corner market. Regards - Jim in So. Calif.

In addition to Carol's very clear comments above, the use of pH paper as a test for the safety of food has been rejected as a valid test by the USDA/NCHFP for many years. This is because of the inconsistent results obtained and the test results showing botulism spores growing in products that has tested safe using the litmus paper.

In other words, it is a very out-dated and unsafe testing method. Please do not attempt or rely on this at home.

Dave

Yes, pH papers are not very accurate. In another thread I found a pH meter used in making wines and it was fairly cheap.

When I’m not sure if my acid levels are correct, I just freeze the jelly:) Then I just keep an opened jar in the fridge!! That will make it safe to eat!