Best Blue Ribbon Habanero Apricot Jam Recipes

HABANERO APRICOT JAM

Steps:

• Pit and chop apricots; place in a Dutch oven. Stir in lemon juice. Place habaneros in a blender; add a small amount of apricot mixture. Cover and process until smooth. Return to the pan. , Stir in pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly., Remove from the heat; skim off foam. Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner. , For best results, let processed jam stand at room temperature for 2 weeks to set up.

HABANERO APRICOT JELLY

Steps:

• Using a food processor, finely mince the diced apricots.
• Place the apricots in a large stainless steel stockpot, add the vinegar and cover. Let the apricots soak in the vinegar for at least 4 hours (can be left to sit overnight if you'd like, but 4 hours will do the trick).
• Using a food processor, finely mince the red bell pepper and habanero peppers.
• Place the apricots, vinegar, peppers, and sugar in a large stainless steel stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to make sure all the sugar dissolves.
• Once the mixture has reached a full rolling boil (a boil you can not stir down), it will double in size. Stirring constantly, keep at a full boil for one minute.
• Remove from heat and whisk in pectin and continue to stir for 3 minutes - this helps to evenly distribute the apricot and pepper pieces throughout the jelly.
• Ladle the jelly into sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with damp paper towels to remove any jelly which got on the rims or the threads. Place the lids and the bands on the jars, just tightening the bands fingertip tight.
• Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, then remove and let sit, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours before checking seals. It is important to let them sit undisturbed for 12 hours because the sealing compound on the lids is still cooling and hardening, completing the seal. While the jars cool, you will hear a "plink" type sound from each jar - this is the jars completing the vacuum seal as the final air escapes the jar. After 12 hours have passed, remove the bands and check the lids - press down in the center of the lid. If you cannot push the lid down any further, the jar is sealed. If the lid "gives" a bit, and you can push it down, the jar did not seal. You can either put the band back on the jar, and reprocess it for another 5 minutes, or you can just put it in the fridge and use it within 3 months.

APRICOT JALA-HABANERO JAM

Steps:

• 1. Wash and sterilize jars and keep them hot until jam is ready. Place boiling water canner with jar rack insert on burner with enough water to cover your jars once they are filled. Turn burner on high and begin boiling. (I always have extra water ready to boil in case I need it to cover the jars.) Also, place lids and rings in water and boil, and then reduce heat to keep them hot and sterile without melting the rubber seals. Just before jam is done (about 5 minutes before), remove jars from boiling water, and place on CLEAN towel to drain. See https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/jam/margarita-jelly-with-added-picture-tutorial.html?p=1 for pictorial of these steps. Note: to prevent cloudy mineral discoloration of jars, you may place two teaspoons of white vinegar in your canner water and in the water you are using to boil your jars.
• 2. (Always use gloves when handling hot peppers.) In large pan, (I use a large dutch oven sized pan to prevent boiling over), combine apricots, chopped peppers (jalapeno, orange or yellow bell, and habanero), white wine vinegar, butter, and sugar. Stir. Bring to a full boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add powdered pectin and return to boil. Boil rapidly for 1 more minute and then check for doneness by using Karla Everett's method with fork tines. The jam should remain spread out between the fork tines when at the jelly stage. (See Karla Everett's https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/non-editible/other-non-edible/jelly-jam-making-tips.html?p=1)
• 3. When done, remove from heat. Scoop off any foam. Have jars ready. Place them in a kitchen sink lined with a clean dish towel. Using a canning funnel, scoop jam into jars within 1/2 and 3/4 inch of rim. Remove jars one or two at a time from sink, and place on a towel covered counter. Using a CLEAN wet towel or paper towel, wash off the rim of each jar. (If any jam gets on the rim, it will not seal.) Then dry rim. Take sterilized lids and rings out of the pan of hot water with the tines of a fork or tongs, and cap each jar and screw on ring. Using the tongs, place each capped jar into the boiling water canner (on top of rack). Once all jars are loaded, check the water level. If additional water is needed to cover the jars with at least an inch or two of water, pour boiling water in.
• 4. Once the water in the canner is at a rolling boil (meaning you can't stir the boiling water down) time the boil for at least ten minutes. Never use larger jars than pints for canning jelly or jam as one cannot ensure that the internal temperature reached is sufficient in the water bath method. Once time is up, turn off heat, and carefully use canning tongs to remove each jar (keeping each upright) and place the jars on a dish towel covered counter. Leave a little space between each jar. If you want to lay a paper towel over them to dry up the water on the lids that's fine, but don't touch the lids. Allow them to seal on their own. You will begin to hear them pop. Some take longer than others, but be patient. Any which don't seal should go into the refrigerator and be used within a couple of weeks. Sometimes, I touch the seal at this point and it seals, but my mom says only trust them if they seal on their own.
• 5. Notes regarding changes: Nestingground said nothing about removing seeds, and I followed this part of the recipe because I love the heat. The original had only 1 yellow, orange, or red bell pepper, but I thought the orange and yellow would better match the apricots, and mine were small, so I added two. The original had no habanero pepper nor any butter. I added the pepper for heat and the butter to reduce foaming. The blog notes say that this makes 4-5 half pint jars, but mine made almost 7 half pint jars. To see the original, please see this link: http://nestinground.blogspot.com/2010/08/apricot-jalapeno-jelly.html This is a great blog.