Sweet and Hot, Just Like I Like Them

This year’s jalapeno crop is designated for jelly.

Kim likes to garden.  And in order to keep me interested, she lets me grow as many hot peppers as I can handle.  It's pretty blatant but it works, so you have to admire the strategy.

I’ve been slowing down over the last few years, though.  I’ve narrowed down to one kind of pepper – jalapenos, which are nicely hot without being too strenuous – and I’ve accepted that modern jalapeno plants are bred to produce enough peppers to provide for the nacho needs of an entire Mexican village and I should therefore not plant sixteen of them unless I there has been a critical jalapeno shortage among Mexican villages.  No such shortage being known to me, I only planted eight.

Still - a good number of villages.

Last year I made nacho slices.  I’ve given away quite a few jars, used up four or five on my own, and I still have fifteen jars.  So not needing to restock, this year I decided I’d make jalapeno jelly.

It’s wonderful stuff, nicely sweet and hot at the same time, and I especially like it with cream cheese on saltines.  I’m thinking of using it as a burger dressing or a steak marinade too.  I’ve certainly got enough jars now that I can get creative.  I don't know about PB&J, though.  We'll see.

I’m getting better at canning things now.  I haven’t managed to set anything on fire for a long time, and the whole boiling-water-bath thing is beginning to feel a bit more normal. 

I am the king of jalapeno jelly.  Bow down before my spicy mightiness!

Or just come on over.  Bring crackers.