Minted Hot Pepper Jelly

Last summer my housemate brought home buckets of hot peppers from her beau's victory garden and we had mint growing wild in the front yard so I decided to try my hand at making pepper jelly. Over the summer she brought home enough of these peppers to make about 90 eight ounce jars of the stuff and over the year it all disappeared with friends clamoring for more. 

We serve this with cream cheese or Brie and crackers.
It's also great with Lamb or beef.

When we ran out of mint, I made the jelly with Ginger https://www.instructables.com/id/Gingered-Hot-Pepper-Jelly/

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

• Use gloves when handling hot peppers.
• If the Capsaicin (which is what makes the heat in Chilies) gets in your eyes you will be miserable for a while.
   

Capsaicin affects epithelial tissue especially in the non keratinized epithelium in the mouth, esophagus, nose, and eyes.

What increases the heat?

• Water washes away the oils or mucus that protects tissues and so will increase the heat from Capsaicin. 
• Anything that is salty or contains alcohol will increase the heat as well.

What decreases the heat?

• The fat in Cold milk bring the Capsaicin into solution and thus decrease a burning sensation (and according to Wikipedia caseins in milk have a detergent effect bringing capsaicin into solution to disolve it). 
• Cold sugar solution (10%) at 20 °C (68 °F) is almost as effective.

3/4 pound of washed and chunked mixed hot Peppers
1 cup cleaned packed mint leaves
4 cups sugar (I often mix 2 cups sugar with the Stevia equivalent of 2 cups sugar)
2 cups of 5% apple cider vinegar
2 packets of low sugar dry pectin

In a food processor finely mince the peppers with the mint and set aside

Mix the dry pectin with about 1/2 cup of sugar sweetener and set aside.

• Mix the vinegar and remaining sugar
• Add the minced pepper & mint to the pot
• Boil for 10 minutes over medium heat, while stirring periodically, to prevent burning.

• Remove the pot from heat
• Add the pectin sugar mixture to the pot and stir briskly,
• Return the mix to the heat and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly

• chill a metal tablespoon by sitting it in an ice water bath,
• Take a half spoonful of the pepper mix and let it cool on top of the ice to room temp

If it thickens up to the consistency of jelly it is ready. If not, mix in a little more pectin (about 1/3 to 1/2 of another package) and bring to a boil for 1 minute or cook a bit longer.

For the pepper jelly I use 8-12 ounce jars.  I prepare the jars by running them and their their caps through the dishwasher.  They can also be boiled in a large pot prior to filling

• Fill jars to within 1/8-inch of the top and screw on covers tightly
• Place in boiling bath 10 min and cool