my first attempt at pepper X fruit spread

10 years ago

so I made my first batch of strawberry / brain strain spread. I call it spread because jam has chunks of fruit, jelly is made from fruit juice, and this is made from pureed fruit. as such I shall call it a spread.

ingredients:
2 lbs fresh strawberries
4-1/2 cups of sugar,
juice from half a lemon
1-1/2 brain strain 7pot peppers
4 tbsp ball no sugar needed pectin

I threw the de-stemmed strawberries and the brains in the blender and ran it til smooth. then I boiled the heck out of the strawberries, added the pectin (mixed with a half cup of sugar to make it mix better), added the rest of the sugar after it came to a rolling boil, let it boil again for a minute, and ladled it into the jars (which had just come out of boiling water seconds before being filled), put the lids on, and put into boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

I did the "cold spoon" test right before canning and it had the perfect consistency. my use for the stuff is to spread it on a bagel that already has cream cheese on it, so I wanted it nice and spreadable, without big chunks. I think this will be perfect. if I make it again I would have only used one brain instead of 1.5, it's pretty hot. the only negative is that there's some tiny air bubbles in there, which is most likely the result of me blending it. not that big of a deal really.

the yield was five eight ounce jars, and one 16oz (the jar Tim's strawberry moruga jelly came in that I reused).

noteworthy: that was just a summary, not an attempt to detail the exact steps to follow. if you're reading this and thinking about making pepper jelly for the first time, you might wanna read a more in depth procedure.

my next one will probably be blueberry / chocolate scorpion. honestly I thought the process was extremely easy. either I got it wrong, or it's much easier than people make it sound.

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Comments (10)

jtight
10 years ago
Your recipe is pretty straightforward a/ you are correct, provided you don't over think a/or get too fancy w/ making jelly it is pretty easy.

The blueberry/choco scorp sounds tasty.

Only experience for me w/ making the jelly was some habanero a/ jalapeÃÂ±o only, no add'l fruit. I like your combo of the fruit a/ pepper. Have to consider that when making this years batch for Christmas presents.
sandysgardens
10 years ago
Great sounding spread!

Keep us posted on your next fruit spread undertaking,

Sandy
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I made the chocolate strawberry jam today. it's absolutely delicious, but it's not setting very well. maybe it just needs more time. 2.5 lbs of strawberries 3 cups of sugar 1/2 cup hershey's cocoa powder juice of 1/2 lemon I brain strain 7pot, seeds left in normal jam procedure, with fruit and pepper put in blender. I mixed the chocolate powder in with the sugar, to keep it from getting overcooked. it was much thicker at the beginning than it was last time I made the strawberry jam, so I added about 3oz distilled water. I can't help thinking that's where I screwed up. oh well, if it doesn't set, it'll be chocolate strawberry pepper syrup. or I could just reboil and add more pectin, as I understand it that's an option. the two big ones are for me. the smaller ones are to give as gifts this christmas. the red one at the end is just normal strawberry jam that I made for my wife, who thinks the hot ones are too hot. it's not setting well either, but I didn't put any sugar in that one, so IDK what's going wrong.
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scents_from_heaven
10 years ago
The proper term is butter. It looks wonderful and the recipes sounds delicious. I just love a bit of heat in anything. Spread works good also for a name
CanadianLori
10 years ago
You are indeed Captain Capsicum. If you do pose with your product- you should wear something like a red T under your apron- just my slant on it - the little woman can advise better.

Thanks for the recipe.
judo_and_peppers
Original Author
10 years ago
thanks guys. I've been eating this stuff every morning, and I LOVE IT. it's delicious. my parents came to town for a visit yesterday, and I let them try it. their reaction was something along the lines of "this is really good jell... whoa that's hot! why would you do that to me?"

my wife thinks it woulda been better without the peppers. but what does she know?

it might be a bit before I do the blueberry x choc scorp. they're about 4x the price of strawberries right now, so unless I use frozen, I can't afford it. my next project will be grinding up some bacon jerky (yes, it's a real thing), melting some chocolate, and mixing in some of tim's devil dust, and putting it into a muffin tin. spicy chocolate bacon? sounds perfect to me.
scents_from_heaven
10 years ago
Use cranberries. I am making a BBQ sauce out of cranberries and the only pepper I have is habaneros that a friend gave me. It is smelling good at the moment. I needed some type of sauce without salt and tomatoes so I came up with one. Cranberries go good with heat.
hillseeker
10 years ago
I have made an apricot, habanero spread great with cream cheese on bagels. I also have made a peach, basil habanero jam that is to die for! I attempted a batch of peach basil scorpion and ruined it pretty quickly. Live and learn... I can't wait to try cranberry!
judo_and_peppers
Original Author
10 years ago
"butter" huh? I learned something new today.

honestly, I don't particularly care for cranberry. it never really gets along well with my stomach. and I pretty much hate apricots and peaches. I don't know why, but I've never liked those. I love pretty much every other fruit. I'm considering an apple spread, also blackberries and rasberries, etc.. maybe an orange marmalade. and pineapple. god I could go on forever.

alas, college and cooking awesome stuff don't mix well. I'll do all these things, sooner or later. winter break is coming up. I'm probably gonna spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
peppernovice
10 years ago
The student has now become the teacher! :)

Tim
scents_from_heaven
10 years ago
I have made an excellent pineapple mango chutney with scoth bonnets and also a pear dragonfruit one. I can no longer have mango so pineapple chutney with some superhots should be good. I am also thinking of making a lime pineapple BBQ sauce that packs heat. Thoughts fly constantly through my head and when they land on something good I try it. You never know unless you try. I am considering making a margarita cheesecake with heat.

my first attempt at pepper X fruit spread

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jtight

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my first attempt at pepper X fruit spread

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