food-safety Guidelines for Safely Modifying Approved Jelly Recipes?

[NJChilehead]

Last year, I started making and canning pepper jellies. I only used approved recipes, followed the directions closely in both preparation and processing (boiling water canning), and used the products reasonably quickly. I love to cook and tinker/experiment with different flavors, and this year I tried making a few fruit/pepper jams, which were fruit jam recipes that I modified by adding peppers, but I refrigerated them immediately and used them quickly in the interest of safety.

I'm aware of the dangers of improperly canned/prepared food, and don't want to take any risks with anyone's health (including my own). That being said, I'd love to be able to safely manipulate flavors in recipes to see what happens while keeping the pH (and consistency) where it needs to be. For example, possibly adding some habaneros to an orange marmalade recipe, or adding a shot of orange juice and orange zest into a pepper jelly to see where it takes the flavors. Adding other fruit juices in small amounts has also crossed my mind. Note that the jelly recipes that I'm using are vinegar/apple cider vinegar based with lemon juice in them, so my assumption is that there's some wiggle room here as far as pH, but I'm wondering if there are guidelines anywhere for the addition or subtraction of ingredients without going outside of the safe pH range? I know that a meter is probably my best bet, but I've also read that meters can be a royal PITA so I thought I'd take a shot at seeing if there are already approved guidelines in place where I can tinker around. Thank you very much for any help that you all can offer!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

USDA Home Canning Guide 7

 

[salsalady]

Usually, vegetable items can be substituted 1:1. When making pickled peppers or a pepper jelly. You can sub 1 pound jalapenos for 1pound superhot. When measuring peppers by weight, the volume usually stays the same.

Or, for pickled peppers, the recipe requires 5 pounds of fresh peppers and produce. You can mix and match onion, cauliflower, carrot, peppers, broccoli,, cabbage....etc...

Not so with veg and fruit. Vegies have a higher pH, fruits generally have a lower pH. When following an established recipe, you can sub peppers by weight 1:1 for a pepper jelly recipe or sub 1 pound of habaners for 1 pound of jalapenos. But not when using a fresh pepper with fruits. Don't sub peppers into the fruit volume as it won't have the same pH.

Using produce by weight helps.

if making a fruit jam/jelly, consider making the jam by the pectin box instructions and use powdered peppers. Works Great!

Wrap up...if making a pepper jelly, sub peppers to your hearts content using an established recipe. If using a fruit recipe, only use a very small amount of fresh pepper with the fresh fruit, or use dried peppers/POWDERS(!!!) with the fruit jam recipe.

FWIW, in making sauces, using 2 habs in 2 gallons of sauce creates a nice heat. Don't get too crazy if the jelly is for normal chileheads.

Have Fun! Post pics...
SL

 

[NJChilehead]

USDA Home Canning Guide 7

Thank you!

Usually, vegetable items can be substituted 1:1. When making pickled peppers or a pepper jelly. You can sub 1 pound jalapenos for 1pound superhot. When measuring peppers by weight, the volume usually stays the same.

Or, for pickled peppers, the recipe requires 5 pounds of fresh peppers and produce. You can mix and match onion, cauliflower, carrot, peppers, broccoli,, cabbage....etc...

Not so with veg and fruit. Vegies have a higher pH, fruits generally have a lower pH. When following an established recipe, you can sub peppers by weight 1:1 for a pepper jelly recipe or sub 1 pound of habaners for 1 pound of jalapenos. But not when using a fresh pepper with fruits. Don't sub peppers into the fruit volume as it won't have the same pH.

Using produce by weight helps.

if making a fruit jam/jelly, consider making the jam by the pectin box instructions and use powdered peppers. Works Great!

Wrap up...if making a pepper jelly, sub peppers to your hearts content using an established recipe. If using a fruit recipe, only use a very small amount of fresh pepper with the fresh fruit, or use dried peppers/POWDERS(!!!) with the fruit jam recipe.

FWIW, in making sauces, using 2 habs in 2 gallons of sauce creates a nice heat. Don't get too crazy if the jelly is for normal chileheads.

Have Fun! Post pics...
SL

@salsalady thank you so much for this advice! I've seen your other posts and was hoping you'd chime in. I love your idea of pepper powder or dried flakes instead of fresh peppers. I assume your advice is because that will have less effect on the pH!

What about adding reasonably acicic fruit components such as dried cranberries, orange zest, orange juice, fruit juices such as cherry, apple, cranberry, etc. to established pepper jelly recipes that have vinegar/ACV and lemon juice as the base? I know that I have to take into account the sugar content and pectin set, but with the vinegar/lemon base, will adding small amounts of fruit juice (less than 10% per volume of liquid) affect the pH too much? I wondered because many fruit juices seem to have a pretty low pH!

 

[salsalady]

I am not a food scientist or expert. Just an opinion...

You could probably add dried components to a jam or jelly with no issues. They will rehydrate in the jelly and will probably have negligible effect on the pH. Probably make it thicker.

Some juices like pineapple have a very low pH, but I don't know how they would react with pectin. Thinking... apple juice does not have as low pH as pineapple. But apple does have natural pectin for making apple butter or apple jelly. Pineapple could probably be substituted for some of the vinegar, but I would do a small single test batch. Worst case is it has to be re-batched with more pectin.

Working with hot sauces, acidic juices can be used instead if vinegars very often. It is the whole jelly pectin issue I am not familiar with.

The pectin products have lots of recipes, some pepper recipes, lots of fruit recipes.

I am thinking, for substitutions, if the jelly recipe calls for pineapple, you could probably use mango, peach, or papaya. If you want to use apple, use one of many established recipes. If a pepper jelly calls for xx ounces of jalapeno, that could be be substituted for xx ounces of superhot or other peppers.

Good luck and have fun!
SL

 

[salsalady]

Thank you!


@salsalady thank you so much for this advice! I've seen your other posts and was hoping you'd chime in. I love your idea of pepper powder or dried flakes instead of fresh peppers. I assume your advice is because that will have less effect on the pH!

What about adding reasonably acicic fruit components such as dried cranberries, orange zest, orange juice, fruit juices such as cherry, apple, cranberry, etc. to established pepper jelly recipes that have vinegar/ACV and lemon juice as the base? I know that I have to take into account the sugar content and pectin set, but with the vinegar/lemon base, will adding small amounts of fruit juice (less than 10% per volume of liquid) affect the pH too much? I wondered because many fruit juices seem to have a pretty low

The use of dried peppers is not impacting pH, mostly for viscosity. If using fresh peppers, there is a lot of water content that needs to be accounted for. Jelly recipes are pretty specific. Using dried peppers in an established jelly recipe is a simple safe way to make an established recipe spicy.

 

[NJChilehead]

I am not a food scientist or expert. Just an opinion...

You could probably add dried components to a jam or jelly with no issues. They will rehydrate in the jelly and will probably have negligible effect on the pH. Probably make it thicker.

Some juices like pineapple have a very low pH, but I don't know how they would react with pectin. Thinking... apple juice does not have as low pH as pineapple. But apple does have natural pectin for making apple butter or apple jelly. Pineapple could probably be substituted for some of the vinegar, but I would do a small single test batch. Worst case is it has to be re-batched with more pectin.

Working with hot sauces, acidic juices can be used instead if vinegars very often. It is the whole jelly pectin issue I am not familiar with.

The pectin products have lots of recipes, some pepper recipes, lots of fruit recipes.

I am thinking, for substitutions, if the jelly recipe calls for pineapple, you could probably use mango, peach, or papaya. If you want to use apple, use one of many established recipes. If a pepper jelly calls for xx ounces of jalapeno, that could be be substituted for xx ounces of superhot or other peppers.

Good luck and have fun!
SL

The use of dried peppers is not impacting pH, mostly for viscosity. If using fresh peppers, there is a lot of water content that needs to be accounted for. Jelly recipes are pretty specific. Using dried peppers in an established jelly recipe is a simple safe way to make an established recipe spicy.

Thank you again for all of your help!