Putting Food By - Janet Greene [198]
Whether a holiday party is a buffet or a full sit-down dinner, a colorful contribution of Dot Robbins’s Christmas Pickle, following, perhaps, Dilly Brussels Sprouts, are sure to be welcome—as would be the tasty put-by stand-by, Corn Relish (see Chapter 19).
Hot Pepper Jam
About three ½-pint jars
Make this jam in August, when jalapeños have come in and green peppers are getting quite inexpensive.
There are tiny bits of green and hot peppers floating in this—not much like conventional jam, but they make a more interesting texture than if they were strained out. Keep batches small, because you’re adding all the components for gelling that the peppers lack—pectin, acid, and sugar. Do up several batches’ worth of the peppers and measure out what you need as you go along. Remember that jalapeños are savagely hot: avoid fumes, wear rubber gloves when you do them all at once, open and cut them under water, and don’t touch face or eyes.
1 cup ground sweet bell pepper, including juice (1 quite large
pepper)
2 tablespoons finely ground jalapeño peppers (convincing but toler-
able; your family may opt for more jalapeños in later batches)
¾ cup cider vinegar
½ cup water
⅛ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons strained lemon juice
1 box regular powdered pectin (1¾ ounces)
2½ cups sugar
2 drops of green food color if liked
Wash and seed the sweet pepper, mince fine in a blender or food processor (easier if whirred with part of the vinegar); measure a good cup of the pepper and its juice into a heavy stainless steel or enameled pot. Holding two or three jalapeños under clean water, remove stems and seeds, split, and mince fine: try not to inhale fumes, and take care to wash hands carefully after handling. Measure 2 tablespoons (plus 1 more if you’re hardy) into the pot with the sweet pepper; add and stir together the remaining vinegar, water, salt, lemon juice, and pectin—powdered pectin is added to fruit juice before sugar. Set the pot on medium-high heat and quickly bring to boiling; add sugar and bring again to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down; boil hard for 1 minute, remove from heat, skim froth, stir. Ladle into clean hot ½-pint jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom. Thoroughly wipe sealing rim of jars with fresh paper towels, put on prepared disc lid, and screw the band down firmly tight. Process in a covered Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 5 minutes; remove jars from canner and set on a dry folded towel where they can cool upright and naturally.
Dilly Brussels Sprouts
7 pint jars
This can be put by in late August or September—or whenever you see a good buy on Brussels sprouts.
Prepare 7 wide-mouth pint jars as for Dilly Green Beans in Chapter 19, using one fresh or frozen whole dill head, one clove fresh garlic, and ¼ teaspoon crushed dried hot red pepper in each jar. Soak Brussels sprouts for 10 minutes in a cold brine of 1 tablespoon salt to each 4 cups of water to drive out any bugs; rinse well: peel and trim to a uniform 1-inch diameter. In the bottom of each sprout cut an X deeply up into its core to allow the pickling solution to reach well inside the vegetable. Pack each jar solidly with raw sprouts to within ¾ inch of the top, tunking the bottom of the jar to settle the contents. Prepare boiling salted pickling liquid as for Dilly Green Beans, pour over packed sprouts, leaving ½ inch of headroom. With a slender plastic blade remove any trapped air from jar; wipe sealing rim, cap with prepared disc lid and screwband firmly tight. Process in a Boiling–Water Bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars, cool upright.
Judge the amount of pickling solution as you go along. If, toward the end, you think you’re running a little short, fill the remaining couple of jars equally and top off each with straight vinegar—never with water, lest you destroy the safe