Mint and Jalepeno Jelly

by Christine
(North Shore, NZ)

This is great with cold meats, curry (instead of mango chutney), lamb - of course - and whatever else takes your fancy! I am getting orders to make more from friends and its a great way to use up the mint growing in the garden. Obviously, you can add more chillies ;o}

• 2 cups fresh mint (any type) leaves, chopped fine


• 2 jalapeño peppers (I use whatever chillies I have), seeded, diced


• 3/4 cup white wine or cider vinegar (I prefer cider vinegar)


• 2 Tbs lemon juice


• 3 1/2 cups sugar


• 1 envelope powdered pectin

In a small saucepan, heat the mint leaves with 1 1/2 cups water, bring to boil, shut off heat and let steep for 30 minutes.

Strain mint infusion into large saucepan, squeezing out mint leaves to extract as much mint as possible (I used several sheets of kitchen roll in a small colander for straining). Discard boiled leaves.

Add vinegar, lemon juice, chopped jalapeños, and pectin to the mint infusion, stir well.

Heat to hard boiling, stirring constantly. Add sugar and keep stirring until the jelly has boiled hard for about 2 minutes, or until it has started to thicken. This will bubble up quite a bit, so make sure that your pot is at least twice as large as the mixture.

Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes then pour into hot jars.

Gently invert jars several times during cooling to redistribute the chilli.

Can be eaten virtually straight away but, I find the flavour deepens the longer it is stored.