food Spicy Freezer Jam

[shaggs2riches]

So I finally decided to open an imgur account, to replace photobucket. Since I can post pictures again, I thought I would share what I have been up to lately. We like to make simple freezer jams with fresh berries and I've gotten into the habit of throwing in some hot peppers into the mix. These jams are easy and fast to make. They actually have become a bit popular with the folks at work. I brought in a Blackberry/Blueberry jam with two chocolate habanero thrown in the recipe, and I had a lot of requests to make more. So far I have made a half and half blueberry/blackberry with chocolate habaneros, blueberry/raspberry with west indies red habanero , and a raspberry with only 1 yellow 7 pot brain strain. I have been messing around with the type and amount of pepper in each batch. The jam goes fantastic on a bagel toast or crackers with cream cheese, and I have also found it good on some ice cream. The jam will last close to a month in the fridge or a lot longer in the freezer. So far I think the Raspberry with yellow 7 pot jam is my favorite. 
 

 

 

 

[MikeUSMC]

Any reason you don't 'can' it? All the berries you're using are acidic enough to be BWB canned in a jelly/jam that you don't have to waste freezer/fridge space on. Makes for great holiday gifts too.

Your final product sounds good. You should try a strawberry one and add 1/4 of powdered cocoa into the sugar. You can thank me later

 

[The Hot Pepper]

FYI you can also upload pics using the upload function in the editor when you start a topic or More Reply Options in replies.
 
These look good!
 
With added sugar it will keep many years btw. The reason it lasts a month is this ism ore of a fruit puree with pectin only.

 

[shaggs2riches]

Any reason you don't 'can' it? All the berries you're using are acidic enough to be BWB canned in a jelly/jam that you don't have to waste freezer/fridge space on. Makes for great holiday gifts too.

Your final product sounds good. You should try a strawberry one and add 1/4 of powdered cocoa into the sugar. You can thank me later

 
I have considered the water bath canning lately actually. We are just learning how to do the canning with pickling and a salsa recipe from a canning book. I guess the only other reason that we haven't is just the simplicity of making it this way. I will give the cocoa a try, sounds real good.

FYI you can also upload pics using the upload function in the editor when you start a topic or More Reply Options in replies.
 
These look good!
 
With added sugar it will keep many years btw. The reason it lasts a month is this ism ore of a fruit puree with pectin only.

Thanks for the tip, I hadn't looked that closely at the other buttons lol. Right now the recipe in the pectin box calls for about 5 1/4 cups of sugar, and says good for a month in the fridge. But I have opened jars in the fridge a couple months in and they seemed fine

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Oh wait it's not cooked? Okay that's why it won't last that long, it will age like the fresh fruit. I bet it tastes good like that.

 

[shaggs2riches]

Yeah the recipe is completely uncooked. The only thing I do is remove the seeds and placenta from the peppers and toss them in the blender when crushing up the berries. We used to have a liquid pectin that had a no cook recipe that called for way less sugar, but I can't find it in the stores lately. The extra sugar probably rounds out the heat a bit more though.
 
 

 

[MikeUSMC]

The sugar will round out the heat a little. I didn't realize it wasn't cooked either, haha. Yeah, don't try canning it like that

Also, I meant to say "1/4 CUP" of cocoa powder before (I forgot to write 'cup'). Mix 1/4 cup of cocoa powder into the sugar and mix it all up before you add it to the pot. It won't clump as bad as it would if you add it right into the boiling pot on its own.

You should definitely look into canning too. It can be a lot of fun, and save you a lot of fridge space. Good luck!