Habanera Gold

Habanera Gold

November 6,2010

My wonderful husband brings in a large pan of Habanera peppers. For those of you that do not know it, these peppers are insanely hot. He said "How about you can these?" I thought "Into what?" I drag out the good ol' Ball Canning book and looked up Habanera Pepper. I found a recipe called "Habanera Gold" and thought, "OK, I can try this." The recipe is supposed to be for a sweet and sour hot jam that you serve with cheeses, kind of snooty for an ol' country girl, but hey, I had to have something to do with the peppers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Habanera Gold Recipe

Ingredients:
Yield: 3/33Servings Size 250 ml jars
1/3 cup finely sliced dried apricot
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
1/4 cup finely diced red pepper
1/4 cup finely diced habanera peppers, with seeds or 1/4 cup finely diced jalapeno, and scotch bonnet peppers combined
3 cups white sugar
1 (3 ounce) envelope liquid pectin
Directions:Prep Time: 30 mins Total Time: 45 mins


1 Cut apricots into 1/8 inch slices and measure into large stainless steel saucepan with the vinegar; let stand for four hours.
2 Cut onions and peppers into 1/8 inch slices; cut slices into a 1/4 inch dice.
3 Add to apricots and stir in sugar.
4 Bring mixture to a full rolling boil.
5 Stirring constantly, boil hard for one minute.
6 Remove from heat and immediately stir in liquid pectin, mixing well.
7 Stir for about 3 minutes to mix solids, but put into jars before it gets too firm.
8 Pour into hot sterilized jars, dividing solids equally and fill to within 1/4 inch from top of jar.
9 Apply snap lids and process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes if you choose.
10 Once sealed you can rotate or invert jars while still warm to distribute solids if needed.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Due to the large quantity of peppers we had and the small amount required by this recipe I decided to quadruple the recipe.

I cut the apricots and laid them to bed in the vinegar over night, to tackle this project the next day, time enough for me to muster up the courage to deal with these peppers. Morning comes and goes and finally by afternoon I am brave. I pulled out my yellow and red bell peppers and my red onion and have fun chopping and dicing and using my Vidalia Chopper. Then came time to tackle the Habaneras. Sporting a lovely pair of latex gloves to protect my skin from pepper burn, I begin cutting the peppers in two and removing the seeds.

With the Habaneras all split and deseeded it was time for the final rinse. Lo and behold as soon as they hit the water and the mist came up from the peppers I started to cough and gag and sneeze like crazy. I thought for sure I was going to die from anaphylactic shock right then and there. I go to the door and gasp for breath, call for my daughter to find the Benadryl and pull my shirt up over my nose. After taking a little pink pill and with my shirt still over my nose I return to the scene of the crime, the sink. I had left the water running this whole time so the peppers were rinsed well by the now. After draining them, determined to finish my project, I cut the peppers in the tiny cubes, all the while still coughing and sneezing and having to take breaks to get my breath.

Noticing that the "cup" of peppers I started with "halved" became a half cup "diced", I decided that that was plenty of Habanera peppers for this recipe and I would just make up the difference with the extra bell peppers I had. With the Benadryl finally helping ease the allergic reaction I had, I wondered if I should risk the "cooking" process. I thought, "Gosh, if "spray off" from the silly things did that much to me, what on earth will the heated steam do?" Not brave enough to attempt this solo, I called in my hubby to sit with me through the rest of the canning process in case I really needed to have someone call 911 for me. Thank GOD for Benadryl because I got the stuff cooked and in jars with no more near death experiences.

I have to say I will never again attempt this recipe for fear for my life, even though it turned out to be a very pretty jar of Habanera Gold. My "mild" rendition of this turned out to have the taste of a very sweet jam with a after burner hot pickled pepper affect, from the very tiny bit I tasted. It seems like it would be wonderful as a glaze to a ham, that is if I wasn't afraid it would kill me.

Photos taken by Anna Husband