Red and serrano pepper jam!

Last Christmas, I made a present for my family: I gave them jobs of jars of pepper jam.  This confused members of my immediate family, who for the life of them couldn't figure out what I was doing with all those red bell peppers and spicy red peppers. They furthermore did not think that my gifts would be well received.  Fortunately, I was vindicated-I had a tremendously positive response, and was even asked for more!

I also felt vindicated by the fact that I opened the Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appétit.  Bon Appétit is the lovely food magazine founded in 1956 in my home town, Kansas City Missouri. What, you ask did I find in the magazine? A special snippet of an article touting pepper jam as the "condiment of the season." While the magazine suggested that one purchase some pepper jam, I find it infinitely more rewarding (and delicious) to make it myself. It's also really quite simple, and making it feels like such a wonderful fall activity.

When I made this jam a few days ago, I used serrano peppers, though you could use any pepper that has a little heat. The jam, as it is in this recipe, isn't very spicy (my Dad doesn't much care for fire these days) though if you wanted more heat, don't carefully devein the peppers and use a few ounces more.

I suppose that strictly speaking, this is somewhere between preserves and jam, but in 2013 the terms jelly, jam and preserves seem somewhat interchangeable. Call it whatever you like or feel strongly about-I mostly just call it yummy.

Ingredients
Jars (I use Ball 8 oz jars-they are sold at the stores in 12 jar packs.)
2 1/2 tablespoons of Fruit pectin (again, I use Ball)
4 ounces of Red Bell Peppers, with top, seeds and white bits removed, quartered.
3 ounces of Green Serrano peppers, with top, seeds, and veins removed, quartered.
4 cups of sugar
1 16 ounce bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar

Method
1. Remove the seeds, stems and veins from the bell peppers and the serrano peppers. Quarter all of them.
2. In a pot (I use a big stock part) add the sugar, fruit pectin and the apple cider vinegar and let the sugar  and pectin dissolve-swirl the sugar, but don't stir (this is hard for me, and I love to stir things in pots.)
3. Whirl the peppers in the food processor.  After, I suggest you scoop the peppers into a strainer and let some of the water drip out. Discard the juice after you strain it (I just leave it over the sink, and let it drain away for a few minutes.)
4. Toss the peppers in the pot, and turn the heat up, bringing the pot to a low boil for about 1/2 an hour.
5. Allow the jam to cool-this will take an hour or maybe even two.  While you are doing this, run your jars through the dishwasher (I don't have one, so I have to visit a friend who has one when I make this-a few jars are a nice reward.) If you don't have a dishwasher (and none of your friends do) I suppose you could pour boiling water into the jars.
6. Scoop the jam (it isn't terribly thick, and it never really will be) into the jars, and seal them. I think it will hold up for about a month or two (not that it will last that long!)
7. Eat greedily. I like this on brie, on turkey (either leftovers from a feast, or on a sandwich made with deli turkey) on cream cheese with crackers, or other cheeses, sandwiches. Eat it on anything you like.

A bit of brie with some pepper jam: savory and sweet playing well together!

An 8 ounce jar of pepper jam. I had a few jars left over.