I have been growing spicy Mutton peppers for a while. They are amazing hot peppers with great flavor. I’ve grown hydroponic Mutton peppers and in the garden. This year I had a great pepper harvest in the garden and ended up with more Mutton Peppers and Chocolate Habanero peppers than I knew what to do with, and decided I needed a way to preserve them.
I’ve always been a fan of pepper jams, so I decided to give it a try. I chose to go with Pineapple and Mango as they are tropical flavors that pair well with Mutton Peppers.
Preparation
Once you have your fresh Mutton Peppers (Habaneros also work well for this jam recipe) clean them and chop them. I recommend wearing gloves as it’s easy to transfer the spicy oils to your skin.
Slice the peppers lengthwise, and remove the stems. I take the bulk of the seeds out, but leave the membrane that holds the seeds (that’s where a lot of the heat comes from) After cleaning and slicing, I dice the peppers into smaller bits.
Add the diced peppers as well as grated carrots to a blender and lightly pulse to get a fine dice without going overboard and turning into a puree.
Be careful not to inhale after opening the blender, it can be quite potent!
Prepare the fruit. I didn’t have enough fresh mangos, so I used a mix of fresh mango with a bag of frozen mango and pineapple chunks. This will be mashed with a potato masher later, but to make it a little easier, I cut the fruit into chunks less than an inch or so.
Combine the Mango, Pineapple, lemon juice, and half the vinegar into a pot and heat to a simmer. Mash the mango and pineapple mixture with a potato masher until it’s slightly lumpy.
Then stir in the sugar until it is dissolved.
Before the mixture comes to a boil, add in the chopped peppers and carrots. I use the remaining vinegar to rinse out the blender, as I don’t like to see any of the peppers go to waste!
Once the mixture comes to a boil, add some butter to keep down the foam, and add the pectin and continue to boil.
Use a ladle to fill the jars, then can them in boiling water.
Mango Pineapple Mutton Pepper Jam Recipe
- 2 LB Mango (fresh or frozen)
- 2 LB Pineapple
- 1 Cup Carrots
- 1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
- 5 Cups Sugar
- 1-2 Cups Mutton Pepper or Habanero Pepper
- 1 packet Pectin
- 1 tbs Butter