Pepper jelly

Last updated
Pepper jelly
Red Pepper Jelly (1962318754) (cropped).jpg
Jars of red pepper jelly
Course Condiment
Main ingredients Chili peppers, sugar and salt, pectin or vinegar

Pepper jelly is a preserve made with peppers, sugar, and salt in a pectin or vinegar base. The product, which rose in popularity in the United States from the 1980s to mid-1990s, [1] can be described as a piquant mix of sweetness and heat, and is used for meats and as an ingredient in various food preparations. [2] It can be put in sandwiches, or served on cream cheese for a cracker spread [2] or used to make a pepper jelly cheesecake. [3] [4]

Contents

History

Pepper jelly's history starts in Lake Jackson, Texas. The first dates for commercial sale start around the late 1970s. The original recipes for pepper jelly were likely to be with jalapeño peppers. [5]

Fried chicken livers with pepper jelly from Elizabeth's Restaurant in Bywater, New Orleans Fried chicken livers with Elizabeth's pepper jelly.jpg
Fried chicken livers with pepper jelly from Elizabeth's Restaurant in Bywater, New Orleans

Preparation

The more common preparation of pepper jelly is with jalapeños, bell peppers, pectin, sugar, vinegar, and oftentimes wine or liqueur. [6]

There have been taste tests to observe which pepper combination is most popular and desirable. The peppers looked at were Habanero, Cheiro do Norte, Biquinho, Malagueta, Cayenne, Paprika and Dedo de Moça. The study concluded that less pungent peppers (Biquinho, Paprika and Cheiro do Norte) were the most suitable for making jelly due to the reddish color, characteristic flavor and aroma of a pepper, sweet taste, and low pungency. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seasoning</span> Process of supplementing food via herbs, salts, or spices

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<i>Capsicum</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paprika</span> Spice made from red peppers

Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from Capsicum annuum varietals in the Longum group, including chili peppers. Paprika can have varying levels of heat, but the chili peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce chili powder. In some languages, but not English, the word paprika also refers to the plant and the fruit from which the spice is made, as well as to peppers in the Grossum group.

References

  1. "Google books ngram viewer".
  2. 1 2 King, Terry Johnson. "This pepper jelly is real hot stuff". The Miami News . Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  3. "Pepper jelly is fascinating to make". thestar.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. "Hot Pepper Jelly Cheesecake". post-gazette.com. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  5. "About Pepper Jelly". ifood.tv. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  6. Byrn, Anne (2018-03-19). "It's springtime in the South -- let's make hot pepper jelly". Southern Kitchen. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  7. Almeida Alves, Jéssica; Nogueira Curi, Paula; Pio, Rafael; dos Santos Penoni, Edwaldo; Pasqual, Moacir; Rios de Souza, Vanessa (2019-02-01). "Characterization, processing potential and drivers for preference of pepper cultivars in the production of sweet or spicy jellies". Journal of Food Science and Technology. 56 (2): 624–633. doi:10.1007/s13197-018-3517-z. ISSN   0975-8402. PMC   6400772 . PMID   30906020.