APRICOT JALA-HABANERO JAM

Steps:

• 1. Wash and sterilize jars and keep them hot until jam is ready. Place boiling water canner with jar rack insert on burner with enough water to cover your jars once they are filled. Turn burner on high and begin boiling. (I always have extra water ready to boil in case I need it to cover the jars.) Also, place lids and rings in water and boil, and then reduce heat to keep them hot and sterile without melting the rubber seals. Just before jam is done (about 5 minutes before), remove jars from boiling water, and place on CLEAN towel to drain. See https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/jam/margarita-jelly-with-added-picture-tutorial.html?p=1 for pictorial of these steps. Note: to prevent cloudy mineral discoloration of jars, you may place two teaspoons of white vinegar in your canner water and in the water you are using to boil your jars.
• 2. (Always use gloves when handling hot peppers.) In large pan, (I use a large dutch oven sized pan to prevent boiling over), combine apricots, chopped peppers (jalapeno, orange or yellow bell, and habanero), white wine vinegar, butter, and sugar. Stir. Bring to a full boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add powdered pectin and return to boil. Boil rapidly for 1 more minute and then check for doneness by using Karla Everett's method with fork tines. The jam should remain spread out between the fork tines when at the jelly stage. (See Karla Everett's https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/non-editible/other-non-edible/jelly-jam-making-tips.html?p=1)
• 3. When done, remove from heat. Scoop off any foam. Have jars ready. Place them in a kitchen sink lined with a clean dish towel. Using a canning funnel, scoop jam into jars within 1/2 and 3/4 inch of rim. Remove jars one or two at a time from sink, and place on a towel covered counter. Using a CLEAN wet towel or paper towel, wash off the rim of each jar. (If any jam gets on the rim, it will not seal.) Then dry rim. Take sterilized lids and rings out of the pan of hot water with the tines of a fork or tongs, and cap each jar and screw on ring. Using the tongs, place each capped jar into the boiling water canner (on top of rack). Once all jars are loaded, check the water level. If additional water is needed to cover the jars with at least an inch or two of water, pour boiling water in.
• 4. Once the water in the canner is at a rolling boil (meaning you can't stir the boiling water down) time the boil for at least ten minutes. Never use larger jars than pints for canning jelly or jam as one cannot ensure that the internal temperature reached is sufficient in the water bath method. Once time is up, turn off heat, and carefully use canning tongs to remove each jar (keeping each upright) and place the jars on a dish towel covered counter. Leave a little space between each jar. If you want to lay a paper towel over them to dry up the water on the lids that's fine, but don't touch the lids. Allow them to seal on their own. You will begin to hear them pop. Some take longer than others, but be patient. Any which don't seal should go into the refrigerator and be used within a couple of weeks. Sometimes, I touch the seal at this point and it seals, but my mom says only trust them if they seal on their own.
• 5. Notes regarding changes: Nestingground said nothing about removing seeds, and I followed this part of the recipe because I love the heat. The original had only 1 yellow, orange, or red bell pepper, but I thought the orange and yellow would better match the apricots, and mine were small, so I added two. The original had no habanero pepper nor any butter. I added the pepper for heat and the butter to reduce foaming. The blog notes say that this makes 4-5 half pint jars, but mine made almost 7 half pint jars. To see the original, please see this link: http://nestinground.blogspot.com/2010/08/apricot-jalapeno-jelly.html This is a great blog.