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.  

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Is there anything better than a recipe from your grandma?  Nope.  I think not.  This freezer jam is incredible.  Like...I can't even.  I could literally eat it with a spoon strait from the jar.  I don't.  But I could.  It's amazing on toast, rolls, waffles, on top of yogurt...basically anything carb.  Just put it on all the carbs.

2 cups crushed strawberries

4 cups sugar

1 box Sure-Jell (the yellow box...she said that's important)

3/4 cup water

Clean, dry, and remove the tops of your fresh strawberries.  Crush 'em up (blender, food processor, potato masher...whatever) and add the sugar.  Mix the sugar and crushed strawberries really well and let them sit for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the Sure-Jell and water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Pour the boiled Sure-Jell into the strawberry mixture and stir for 3 minutes.

Ladle the strawberry mixture into clean, dry jars and place the lid on the jar.  Allow the jam to sit on the counter for 24 hours.  Pop in the freezer and store until ready to use.  When you're ready to eat it, thaw the jam in the fridge for 24 hours.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.  It's amazing!  It's a lot of work, but if you've got tomatoes from your garden this summer that you need to use up, this is a great way to get through them.  Freeze it, can it...whatever.  This isn't so much a recipe as much as it's a list of ingredients.  I have no idea how much of what I used.  I taste as I go.

6lbs. tomatoes (I just used whatever a neighbor gave us.  I have no idea what kind they were...but they worked.)

Italian Seasoning

Red Wine Vinegar

salt

pepper

sugar

Young Living Basil and Oregano Essential Oil (optional)

garlic powder

onion powder

celery

onion

olive oil

Turn on your Instant Pot to the Sauté feature.  When it's hot, add the olive oil.  Slice an onion or two into rings, and chop a few stalks of celery.  Toss it all into the olive oil and sauté until soft.  While they're sautéing, start chopping all of your tomatoes.  No need to remove the skin.  I just cut them in half, cut the part out where the stem attached to the fruit, and gave them a rough chop.  Throw them in on top of the celery and onion.  As the tomatoes release their juices, use a whisk or a potato masher to mash the tomatoes down.  Fill the pot with tomatoes until it reaches the max line.  Smash them down one more time so that it's just below the max line.  If you can add more, go for it.  Just make sure that as you mash them down, your final amount is just below the max line.  Add a tsp. of salt and pepper, put the lid on your instant pot, set it to sealing, and process on the manual function, high pressure for 7 minutes.  

When it's done, carefully release the pressure and remove the lid.  Turn the Instant Pot back on the Sauté feature and cook the mixture down until it has reduced by half and stir it frequently.  This will take a couple of hours.  Once it has reduced by half, blend with an immersion blender until it's completely smooth.  Start adding the other ingredients and taste as you go.  I added one drop of each essential oil, plenty of garlic powder and onion powder.  And sugar until it was as sweet as we liked it.