Mango Jalapeño Pepper Jam Recipe

I'm keeping it short and simple tonight. The boys are driving me nuts, and I have freshly cleaned cake decorating stuff all over the kitchen counters that I need to put away, but I wanted to get my recipe out before it slipped my mind.

Pictured above, one way to eat it - over cream cheese and then spread on crackers.

Mango Jalapeño Pepper Jam Recipe
Yields: ~50 ounces
Has a mild to medium burn. 

• 2/3 cup Jalapeño Peppers (measured after chopped), ~7 to 8 small peppers
• 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Jalapeño Pepper Seeds
• 3/4 cup Lemon Juice
• 5 cups Mango, diced small. ~5 Mangoes
• 1/2 tsp Butter
• 4 cups White Sugar
• 1 Package Powdered Pectin (I used Sure Jell)

Directions:
As with all Jelly and Jam Projects:

• Sterilize your jars by immersing them in water, plus an inch and bringing said water to a boil. Remove them from the boiling water with a jar removal thingy, and place them upside down on a clean towel to dry.
• In a medium pot sterilize your lids and rings by immersing them in water and bringing water to boil. Turn the stove down to low and leave the lids and rings in the pot while you make the jelly.

Chop Peppers

• Wear gloves when working with the peppers. The oil will burn long after the jelly has set.
• Wash and dry the peppers. Remove the seeds and set aside 1/2 tsp for later. Remove and discard the white membrane parts.
• Then chop - and now is when you measure them. Place them in a mini-chopper or food processor with 1/2 the lemon juice to make them fairly fine, but not pureed. It's perfectly fine to go over or under a bit of the 2/3 cip. All that will happen is that your jam will be more or less hot than mine is.
• Do the same to the bell pepper and the other 1/2 of lemon juice, but discard the seeds. 

Chop Mangoes

• Peal the mangoes and remove the fleshy part from the seed. Chop the fleshy part into small chunks.

Bring to Simmer

• Place the mangoes, peppers (in the lemon juice), 1/2 tsp jalapeño seeds, butter and sugar in a large pot.  Everything but the pectin. Tip: use a pot about 3 to 4 times deeper than the ingredients because jelly and jam like to bubble up and expand a good deal.
• Cook uncovered over med/low heat. The sugar will dissolve and become liquid. 
• At this point, unless you want it really chunky, use a stick blender (aka immersion or hand blender) to get to the chunkiness or smoothness you want. Mangoes don't cook up as much as other fruit. If you want a really smooth mango texture, but still have chunks of pepper, use a food processor on the mangoes prior to placing them in the pot.
• Bring to a simmer, but don't boil, on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. The simmering evaporates the excess water which can make your jelly runny. Tip: DO NOT breathe in the fumes. The pepper fumes are strong for some people. Keep your stove fan on high.

Boil Jelly

• After 15 minutes of simmering, add the pectin and turn the heat up to med/high and bring the mixture to a full roiling boil - which means it doesn't stop bubbling when you stir.  Stir constantly. Let it stay at a full roiling boil for 2 whole minutes.  Tip: you may want to wear those full length kitchen gloves about now to avoid the jelly spits.

Remove from heat and place in jars

• After 2 minutes, immediately remove the pot from the heat.  Using a large ladle, ladle the jelly into your sterilized jars, filling them up to 1/4 inch from the top. Tip: I used a razor knife and cut the bottom off a cheap plastic funnel to increase the hole and used that so that the jelly wouldn't spill in the jar's edges. Jelly edges prevents proper sealing of jars.

Screw on the lids and rings

• The boys confiscated my magnet wand earlier in the week. I last remember seeing it sticking off the side of an old metal coffee can.  So I had to drain the lids and rings, and empty the pot onto a towel. Make sure they are screwed on tightly.

Water Bath

• Place the lidded jars in a large stockpot. Cover the jars with water plus another inch or two. Over med to med/high heat (not high), bring the water to a boil and boil the jars for 15 minutes.  This kills off any bacteria or fungus which may still be present in the mixture or on the jars.
• Remove the jars from the water bath after 15 minutes - do not let the water cool and then remove them. That's why we have those jar lifter thingies. Place the jars on your kitchen towel to dry and cool.

Once the jars are cool, the lid should not pop back when pressed. If it does make a popping sound, it is not sealed. Try another water bath. If it still pops when pressed, refrigerate and use.