Ok, I have found my cryptic handwritten notes on my own famous (well, at least at my local farmer's market) onion-garlic-pepper jelly. I used to sell at least a case (12 half-pints) of this stuff a week....and I have never shared the secret recipe, UNTIL NOW! (This is starting to sound like an informercial...tee hee.) Gina's Locally-Famous Onion-Garlic-Pepper Jelly 1 1/2 cups mixed peppers (both sweet and hot*), seeded and finely chopped 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped 2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar 5 cups sugar 1 pouch Certo liquid pectin Combine everything except the pectin and bring to a full, rolling boil for at least a minute. Stir in the pectin, bring back to a rolling boil for five minutes. Fill jars (this usually yields 3 pints/6 half-pints) and process in a boiling water bath, 10 minutes for half-pints and 15 minutes for pints. *I like about half red bell pepper and half whatever hot peppers are good to go from the garden. Choose according to your desired heat level, from mild Anaheims all the way up to habaneros, if you dare! I usually use something mild like Anaheim or Nardello, some jalapenos and/or serranos, and maybe some cherry peppers or (red) super chilis for a little more color. And I use the food processor to make easy work of chopping all the veggies. Serving Suggestions: The traditional preparation is to serve this spooned over a brick of cream cheese with crackers But our FAVORITE thing to do is to roast a chicken halfway, take it out, glaze it liberally with the pepper jelly, and finish roasting it. The chicken comes out shiny and crispy and sweet and spicy and succulent. SO GOOD! Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious

I'm back - too wet still to pick the garden for market. Here's what you said on the pectin thread: "4 large ripe Caribbean Reds. 3 small ripe orange Burpee habs. 2 ripe red jalapenos 1 green jalapeno Habeneras can be eaten green. They have a different heat and are milder... certainly a variation I'll try in the future. Recipe calls for sweet red bell pepper that I didn't have so the red jalpenos were substituted.. and a green one for color... pretty jam. Less-see.... 1/4 cup of dry apricots cut into tiny pieces then put in a plastic jar to soak in 3/4 cup 5% white vinegar for 4 hours. Chop fine 2 Caribbean Red and all other peppers into the apricots & vinegar. (using gloves) Chop fine 1/4 cup or so of red onion.. and toss in vinegar/peppers/apricots. Mess around all afternoon picking two kinds of apples and boiling apple chunks in 4 cups of water with a shot of lemon juice in it. Stain all apple bits leaving the liquid. Simmer liquid for hour while playing with grape juice. Nine small apples did not seem like much so I added chunks from 6 medium apples and boiled them. Figured I'd add the last two Caribbean Reds at this point.. they boiled awhile and were removed with the apple pulp when I strained it a second time. Put pepper/onion/apricot/vinegar mix into the microwave and brought it to a boil. Wanted them peppers cooked... then added it to my saucepan of homemade "pectin". Wondered if it would be enough so I put in a 1.75oz box of certo pectin. Finally 3 coffee cups of white sugar. About this time my canner water was boiling. I put in 4 pint jars to warm. Meanwhile the saucepan was boiling up a foam and smelled good. Discovered I needed a 5th jar while filling... a perfect 5 pints. Last jar didn't get warm enough so it didn't seal.. fridge sampler." So 1/4C apricots instead of 1/3 - no big deal, still 3/4C vinegar, 1/2C (please measure!) peppers and 1/4C onion? And you said you bumped the vinegar up (to what, a cup?). Again, no problem. But then you add 4C of apple pectin (made by Linda Z's recipe, or close, with 2C of water for each lb of apples, strained, and then reduced by half? Weigh the apples next time - you may be getting apple-scented water and not a good juice or pectin at all, we can't tell. You added a "shot" of lemon juice - so does Ellie Topp - may not be necessary but not a bad idea. Ellie doesn't reduce her pectin so might need more of it and longer boiling to get the jelly to set). But we really need to know if you're reducing the pectin a la Linda Z, or using "regular strength" like Ellie Topp to be able to guesstimate how much acid/pectin is actually in the "stock". Or use the tests for acid and pectin that Linda Z gives in her book (Carol posted the one for pectin, the one for acid is a taste test - don't use the same sample though ;-)!) 3 coffee cups of sugar could be 4-5 measuring cups - do you own a set of measuring cups/spoons? Now you're really deviating from the Hab gold recipe, and more like the Red Pepper Jelly recipe I posted on that thread, but with added apricots. Also, I just noticed that you're using pints - and got a huge yield (over double what Hab Gold or Red Pepper Jelly would give you, and still more than what the NCHFP Mayhaw Pepper jelly yields). That could be a problem. Also, jelly will set up better in smaller containers - go buy some halfpint jelly jars. I think you'd better stick to the Hab Gold (or Big Batch Confetti Jelly) recipe if you want the apricots, or use a tested recipe like Linda Z's (remember to salt the peppers to draw out more of the water!) if you want to use homemade pectin, or the Mayhaw Pepper (subbing apple juice for Mayhaw juice) if you want to keep making this. Without measurements, and with so much liquid and such a large yield, I can't tell if it's safe or not. I don't even know how you're getting such a large yield with 4C of apple juice/pectin and less than a cup (after soaking) of vinegar. Did you mean half pints instead of pints? Maybe someone more experienced will weigh in now that I've copied your recipe from the other thread. HTH Shelly

Annie's Salsa using the roasted poblanos sounds good. I'd go for it and lable the jars accordingly. I made both of these recipes from small batch preserving this year. I don't see any reason why you couldn't double them or more. Fire Roasted Pickled Sweet Red Peppers (I think you could subsitute another kind) 6 - 8 small sweet red peppers (about 2 lb) 1 large clove garlic, unpeeled 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/2 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion 2 T granulated sugar 1/2 tbsp organo leaves, or 1 tbsp fresh 1 tsp pickling salt 1. Roast peppers and garlic on the bbq grill or on a rack under the broiler until skins are blistered and starting to blacken. Place peppers in a paper bag until cool enough to handle; set garlic aside. When peppers are cool, remove skins, cores and seeds. But lenghtwise into strips about 1 inch wide, set aside. 2. Combine wine, vinegars, onion, sugar, oregano and salt in a small stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Squeeze roasted garlic to remove the skin, mash and add to saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes. 3. Remove hot jars from canner and pack peppers into jars within 3/4 inch of top rim, being careful to not pack too tightly. Pour boiling vinegar mixture including onion to within 1/2 inch of rim. Process 15 minutes for half-pint and pint jars. Makes 4 half-pint jars Fiery Yello Pepper Salsa The salsa has lots of heat. If you don't like your salsa this hot, use more sweet pepper in place of the hot ones. Just don't change the total amount of peppers. 2 cups chopped sweet yellow pepper 2 cups chopped peeled ripe tomatoes 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion 1/4 cup finely chopped hot yellow pepper 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeno pepper 2 large cloves garlic 1/4 cup lime juice (bottled) 2 tbsp white vinegar 1/2 tsp pickling salt 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro 1. Combine everything except cilantro in a medium stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in cilantro and cook for 2 minutes. 2. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle salsa into jars to within 1/2 half of rim. Process 20 minutes for half-pin and pint jars. She also has recipes for "Multi-colored ginger pickled peppers", "pickled jalapeno peppers", and "Green and Red Pepper Relish".

Emily I don't have and can't find a recipe that calls for your specific ingredients, but I make a habanero jelly recipe that is very good. It's from Bernardin and I just won the Grand Champion ribbon at my county fair with it. I'd probably sub mangoes for the apricots and replace some of the onion/pepper with some ginger root, then use Thai Hots instead of Habanero. Habanero Gold Jelly 1/3 cup finely sliced dried apricots 3/4 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup finely diced red onion 1/4 cup finely diced sweet red pepper 1/4 cup finely diced habanero peppers, including seeds OR 1/4 cup diced, combined jalapeno and Scotch Bonnet peppers 3 cups granulated sugar 1 pouch Certo liquid pectin Cut apricots into 1/8 inch slices. Measure into a large deep stainless steel saucepan with vinegar; let stand 4 hours. Individually, cut onion and seeded peppers into 1/8 inch slices; cut slices into 1/4 inch dice. Measure each ingredient; add to apricots. Stir in sugar. Over high heat, bring to a full roiling boil. Stirring constantly, boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat. Immediately stir in pectin, mixing well. Pour jelly into hot jar, dividing solids equally among jars and filling each jar to within 1/4 inch of top rim. Wipe rims. Apply lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB. Cool upright, until lids pop down, about 30 minutes. When lids are concave but the jelly is still hot, carefully grasp jar without disturbing lid and invert, twist, or rotate each jar to distribute solids throughout jelly. The jar can be inverted temporarily but do not allow it to stand upside-down for prolonged periods. Repeat as necessary during the cooling/setting time, until solids remain suspended in the jelly. Your combination sounds yummy, BTW. Annie