Carol, Annie and anyone else working with weights... I just made and processed two Big Batches of HG. I kept them separate from the beginning. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to evenly distribute the bits if I started in one big pot and tried to divide them on Day 2. I did weigh everything several times and here is what I came up with for one Big Batch recipe: 170 g minced dried apricots (1/8" dice) 200 g total of minced red sweet pepper and minced red onion (1/8" dice), approximately half-and-half. 30 g Habanero peppers Note: For extra-hot, increase Habaneros to 60 g and reduce red sweet pepper/red onion combination to 150 g total. 360 g white vinegar 1.2 kg (1200g) sugar 1 3-oz. pouch liquid pectin When I look at the ingredients as a formula, the percentages using weights are a little off from the percentages using the cup measurements. Shouldn't they be the same? I what I have okay? How should I evaluate whether my weights are okay? Now that I've got the calculations set up, should I "tinker" around with the grams to force the percentages to be the same as those using cups? Thanks!!

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?

Newer version of Annie's Salsa - BWB only Annie's Salsa 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained 2 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper 3 to 5 chopped jalapenos (for milder leave out seeds and ribs) 6 cloves minced garlic 2 tsp cumin (optional) 2 tsp pepper 1/8 cup canning salt 1/4 c fresh cilantro (optional) 1/3 c sugar (optional) 1 cup cider vinegar (see note on subbing lemon or lime juice option) 16 oz canned tomato sauce (to adjust density) 8-16 oz canned tomato paste (to adjust density) Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process pints for 15 minutes in BWB. Makes 6 pints. _________ A lot of changes have been made to this recipe over the years. Some people like lemon or lime juice in place of some or all of the vinegar, that's fine. (Note from Sheila - I like half lemon half lime.) Some people leave out the cilantro, that's fine too. Do not increase! Some people add more hot peppers or fewer onions, fine as long as you keep the same total measurements. (Note this is what NCHFP does in their new Choice Salsa recipe.) Some people leave out the sugar, that's fine. You can scoop out the goo in the middle of the tomatoes with your thumbs when I'm peeling and chopping for a less seedy version, so it's 8 cups of chopped tomatoes without the seeds and goo. Most who make it regularly as well as Annie recommend using a variety of different slicing tomatoes, not paste types, for best flavor and consistency. (Note: use the tomato sauce and paste to adjust the consistency of the final product to a "sloshy" consistency.) According to Annie "My salsa is not as thick as Heinz catsup but it's thicker than taco sauce. If you don't like it quite as thick or sweet, cut down the amount of paste. I would add some, then taste. Reducing that ingredient shouldn't affect the safety of the recipe. I use equal amounts of sauce and paste. You can pull it off the heat at any point and adjust for flavor. Before I cook it I check for salt, sugar, check the consistency. Add more pepper or cumin if I want. When I first started making this salsa, tomato sauce and paste came in 8 and 16 ounce cans. Like everything else, they've now been downsized, so now I have to use partial cans." Does anybody have good versions of the other recipes that have weird symbols in them for measurements?

In general, less water = hotter peppers, and more sun = hotter peppers. The converse is also true. Wet and shady will make the pods less hot. However, it doesn't sound off the cuff as though those are your issues. It could be that you're at a point in the S. African growing season when the plants would be less hot. My blazing-hot Jalapenos in August are no hotter than bell peppers in October, no heat at all. late season pods can have very different heat profiles than early/mid season pods. But really, what you have to do is find someone nearby who's growing habs, or at least peppers, and see what kind of results they're getting. Then you will able to quickly determine whether it is your plants, you, or your regional growing situation. The most important thing is not to get too emotionally attached to a plant...I recommend a cat...LOL Believe me I know the feeling. I raised 72 plants from seed in March, constantly watching over them after building a custom growing system with heating pads, timers, and so on, for them. I spent two months nursing them into big, beautiful plants ready for transplant. I had each plant numbered in a diary, with a complete growing history, and hundreds of digital photos. Then I brought in one plant from a store, and it had aphids. The entire setup got completely infested. In a panic I spray insecticide, but the wrong type or something, and it killed the plants. Whoa! Very disappointing. Well, after being really bummed out, I started over with store bought plants. Many of those didn't make it either - worms, aphids, beetles, wilt, rot, rainstorms, cold, heavy winds that blew some over, blah blah blah. Eventually it all worked out and I got many hundreds of pods this season. But along the way, I learned that they're just plants and their job is only to give you something to eat, before you throw them out at the end of the season - they're not people or pets LOL Not to be too philosophical about it, but hope that helps.