{Made with Love} Pepper Jelly Gifts

Looking for a budget-friendly, "made with love" Christmas gift for your family and friends? Look no further! This Pepper Jelly recipe from Paula Deen was simple, impressive and delicious!

Pepper Jelly

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh hot green pepper, such as jalapeno or serrano
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
4 ounces pectin (recommended: Certo)
4 drops green food coloring
Special Equipment: 6 (1/2-pint) canning jars with lids



First and foremost, sterilize your jars. This isn't as difficult as it sounds. First preheat your oven to 175 degrees. Then, simply wash with hot and soapy water, rinse well, and then arrange jars AND lids open sides up, without touching, on a tray. Lastly, leave in oven for 25 minutes. Remember, these are now hot and sterilized so move them with tongs (but make sure those are sterilized too-dip ends in boiling water for a few minutes). All items touching the jars need to be clean...especially your hands...so soap up!

Now to the jelly...

In your food processor, work your bell pepper and hot pepper until finely minced.

Combine your pepper mixture, vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. (This takes a little longer than I expected...so be patient!)

Now, remove from heat and add your pectin and food coloring. (This scared me because it didn't look like the pepper jelly I was expecting...but trust the process!)

Lastly, pour into sterilized jars and seal. This is where the fun begins. To seal the jars, check out the instructions on your canning jars. To properly seal the jars I purchased, each needed to undergo a "hot bath" in a canner. Since I didn't have a canner, I filled our largest stock pot about half-way, making sure that when the cans were placed inside the water would cover with an inch or so of water. After bringing to a boil and letting sit for a few minutes, I turned off the heat, let the water cool and then removed the cans. I let that cans sit for 12-24 hours and then prepared for gifting! (My favorite part!)

I test drove this creation with some cream cheese and crackers...yum, yum, yum!

This jelly is very, very green in color. So feel free to spice it up!