Yes...habaneros taste like....well habaneros. Very hot but a distinctive flavor too. And they are crazy hot!
Linda C

Hmmm, too bad. I like the heat they give but I don't think I like the taste. I will probably give these as gifts to others and make another batch with the chili peppers instead as I do really like the overall taste of the jelly. Do you think adding cayenne pepper can be added to up the chili heat?

The double batch recipe was Carol's (Readinglady).

As LindaC said, habaneros have a distinctive flavor, they are kind of "fruity", but crazy hot, the hottest pepper available usually.

If you skipped the soaking period, though, I don't think you're going to get the flavor of the apricots either, or not as much, so I think you changed it in two ways.

If you like it with other peppers than habanero, that's what I'd make, the habanero version is pretty hot, it demands respect. I eat just a tiny bit on a bagel with cream cheese because I'm kind of a heat wuss but I love the flavor of the habanero. I've never tried to make it with any other kind of hot pepper, just because I like the original version, which is actually from Bernardin, the Canadian version of Ball/Kerr, but I don't see any reason it couldn't be made with any hot pepper you like.

Annie

I've developed a fondness for the Red Savina habenera cultivar. Almost twice the heat of milder strains of habenera. A distinct flavor that I don't get from the orange habeneras that I have. Also found different levels of ripeness affect the heat and flavor. So far I've had to make do with off the shelf habenera jelly as I've not had time for jelly making. Were it not for the heat a person would never guess it is made with hot peppers... tangy like gooseberry.

: )
lyra

I wouldn't add any dried ground pepper to it, as the pepper won't really dissolve into the jelly--you'll just get grains. If you really want to ratchet up the heat, you could try warming with some hot pepper sauce--Tabasco or something similar, but I think just making another batch is probably a better path to success.

my last 2 double batches I'm sure I simmered and then let sit. I don't think the problem was the precooking at all.

Lots of ways to up the heat in things.

As I noted I'm particular the Red Savina cultivar which is about twice as hot as regular habeneras (world's hottest 94 - 06). The thought of tabasco sauce in my jelly makes me cringe... a flavor I really don't like. If a person really has a death wish there is a new "world's hottest" in the Bhut Joloki or Ghost Pepper. Measured at over a million scoville heat units it should be hot enough. Purified capsicum is available over the Internet if you want to hit 15-16 million scoville units. The "Dave's" brand of hot sauce has a new one hitting 13 million out of the bottle. People have reported hallucinations after eating lesser Dave's products... not impossible. I've eaten the regular Dave's Insanity Sauce more then once... the first drop you eat is never ever fogotten... sort of burnt into your mind. Dave's is dangerous at a party as the first person to try it will not taste any heat for a few seconds... long enough for the second lemming to leap... when the heat kicks in people can't talk. Without the ability to warn other guests pretty soon everyone is standing around looking at each other being speechless.

All sort of makes a regular habenera at 100,000 - 350,000 scoville heat units seem like a mild animal. A regular jalpeno is 5,000 - 15,000 SHU for reference. Police pepper spray is about 5,000,000 SHU.

Hottest thing I ever ate was a raw cayenne! IMHO scoville heat units don't fully capture what make a pepper hot. One cayenne pepper fresh from the garden made my mouth foam for 10 minutes... it was gross. No harm done... I was half drunk and went on to finish getting intoxicated.

Another thing to consider is that pepper heat changes as you cook it. At first it has an instant brilliant zingy bite-you kind of heat which after cooking for some hours (next day) will cook down to an after burn warm heat that comes on a few seconds after it is eaten. Lots for a cook to play with getting the right combination of raw heat and cooked down heat flavors. Years ago when I was learning to cook curry I was introduced to the concept of adding fresh pepper before serving to reignite the raw flavor.

I don't consider myself a "chili head" as the hot pepper crazy people refer to themselves. For the most part I just cook with them. My garden keeps producing new varieties... it was an ex-gf that first gave me Red Savinas to grow. Like other vegtables nothing beats fresh!

Lots of Dave's products as well as dried Bhut Joloki ($27/lb + shipping) available on Amazon if you want to get crazy. Purified capsicum and Red Savina peppers/powder/sauce/chocolate bars available from redsavina.com. LOL... I just happened to be window shopping hot pepper products last night. Going to spray my sunflowers with pepper spray this year to see if I can keep the deer from eating them. Yeah... I did say they make chocolate bars with hot pepper! I've found a couple types and LOVE them... who would have thought chocolate and hot pepper would be a good combination... addictive.

: )
lyra

Michael, I kind of like some of the dark chocolate bars with chili added too.

As for the jelly, I think when you find a flavor combination you like, you should stick with it. As the original poster really liked the first batch with different peppers, that's probably going to be her "go to" recipe.

That said, there are a lot of factors that go into flavoring a hot pepper, including temperature, soil, water, you're never going to get the same heat and taste twice in a row!

Teri, I thought she was saying that she missed the part about letting the fruit sit, and when she realized she missed it she just went ahead and made the jelly anyway, without any time period when it rested.

Annie

Three days later ...much, much better. I don't taste that habenero taste so much. It's still hot but that initial taste that was there right after making it seems to be gone and it tastes more like the first time I made it. BTW, if you smell the jelly when it's cooking (as in putting your face above it the check on the smell (like an idiot, I might add)) is like getting a fine mist of pepper spray your way... just saying. Potent stuff. I have to confess I also did the double habenero.

cookie, I'm glad it's gotten better, but I never EVER put my face over the pot and sniff, LOL.

You probably burned your sinuses AND your taste buds!!!

Annie

I now have one of those jalapeno roasting racks in my Amazon cart! grrrr you guys are such enablers.