Brother Andy double-dog-dared me the other day to make a cranberry jalapeño jam which I enthusiastically accepted.  I think he was trying to confuse me so that he could get out of our planned Black Friday chukar hunt.  Well brother, it didn’t work and we’re still going to chase those cantankerous phookars come Friday next!

I couldn’t find any recipes on-line that didn’t include distilled white vinegar so I made up my own recipe.  It’s delish!

Ingredients:

One packet of Ocean Spray cranberries washed

5 jalapeños washed, halved, and de-seeded

5 cups of white sugar

Zest of one whole lemon and the juice of the lemon strained to removed the seeds

2 large Honey Crisp apples peeled and core removed

One packet of liquid pectin

Combine the peppers, apples and cranberries into a food mixer then moved into your jam pan.  Add the sugar, zest and lemon juice to the pan.  Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins.  Get your sterile jars ready at this point.  Place some jam-set-up test plates into the freezer.  I used a submersion blender to get the jam to a smooth consistency.  Bring the mixture to a hard boil then add the liquid pectin.  After one minute of hard boiling, test the jam on the freezer plate.  If satisfied, remove from heat and spoon into your jars.  Place in the hot water bath for 10 to 12 minutes.  This recipe turned out great and made 6 1/2 pints.

Bon appetite

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and followers of the Upland Ways!  See ya on the prairies…