Cowboy Candy (Candied Jalepenos)

 

Cowboy Candy.  Candied Jalepenos.  Coyote Crack.  It goes by many names but it's all the same amazing jar of addicting, sweet, mildly spicy goodness.  There are endless ways you can use these guys.  Our absolute favorite is on our cheeseburgers.  We also love to pour it over a block of cream cheese to eat with crackers.  Whatever you end up using it on, it's guaranteed to be delicious.  

This recipe is a bulk recipe and you'll be thankful for that when your friends taste them.  They'll beg you for a jar and you'll have one ready to go for them.  The leftover syrup is DELICIOUS to use for basting any meat you're grilling or making your own salad dressing in place of honey.

10 lbs. fresh jalepenos (firm and washed)

6 cups apple cider vinegar

18 cups white sugar

1 1/2 tsp. turmeric 

1 1/2 tsp. celery seed

9 tsp. granulated garlic

3 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Grab a pair of food safe gloves and chop off the stems of all of the jalapeños.  Discard the stems.  

Slice the peppers into uniform 1/4 inch round slices and set aside.  It's a lot of slicing, not gonna lie.  Pop in an audio book and get comfy.

In a LARGE pot, bring the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne to a boil.  

Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  

Raise the heat to boiling again and add the pepper slices.  (Open all of your doors and windows at this point.)  

Return the syrup to a hard boil, reduce the heat again and simmer for *exactly* 4 minutes.  

Use a slotted spoon and transfer the peppers into clean, sterile canning jars with 1/4 inch of headspace left at the top of the jar.

Once all of the peppers are in jars, turn the heat back up on the syrup and boil hard for another 6 minutes.

*CAREFULLY* ladle the boiling hot syrup into the jars to cover the jalapeños.

Insert a wooden skewer or chopstick into the jar all the way to the bottom two or three times to release any trapped air bubbles.  Adjust the level of syrup as necessary.  You still want to have 1/4 inch headspace in your jars.

Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean, damp paper towel and place new lids and rings onto the jars to fingertip tightness.  

At this point, you can allow them to cool on the counter top then transfer to the fridge to store.

If you would like to can them, place the jars in a water bath canner.  Cover the jars with water by 2 inches.  Bring the water to a full rolling boil and process the jars for 10 minutes for half-pint jars or 15 minutes for pint jars. 

When the timer goes off, use canning tongs to transfer the jars to a cooling rack.  Leave them to cool on the counter for 24 hours.  

Check the lids for a proper seal.  If there are any that didn't seal, stick them in the fridge to use first.  

If you can stand it, let your peppers hang out for about 2 weeks or a whole month to let them get nice and yummy.  If you have to dig into them before that, go for it.  I won't say anything!  

Yields approximately 8 pint size jars.

You'll notice you have some leftover syrup.  KEEP IT!  You can use it in SO many recipes.  Add it to grilled meats, use it in place of honey, add some to your potato salad, use it in any Mexican recipe, add some to your bbq sauce, brush it on your corn on the cob, brush it on grilled shrimp skewers...literally anything you think it would be tasty on!  If you have too much to use in the next month or so, feel free to throw it in a canning jar and process it while you process your jalapeños.