All Four Burners

Hot Inferno Pepper Jelly (and announcing Can It Up!)

Posted on 18 September 2012

I am so eager to kick off  Can It Up next month that I am practically hyperventilating.

Patience, grasshopper. It’s only 12 days until October 1st.

Instead, I will distract myself (look, shiny object!) by sharing the kick-ass hot pepper jelly I made yesterday.

Indeed, I was going to share a long, rambling story about going to the Wheat Ridge farmers market (a mid-week market to which I had never been, among the many benefits of joblessness), the crazy [read: knowledgeable] pepper lady (as I delightfully refer to her), and its stunning array of peppers.

Mostly, though, I am disproportionately proud that I didn’t 1. set the stove on fire or b. blind myself by touching my eyes after chopping hot peppers. Small victories.

I can’t wait any longer. Let’s talk about Can It Up.

Announcing Can It Up!

I have been preserving and canning for well over 5 years now, but haven’t kept up with it consistently. This held true even when I lived in California, where there is always something to preserve and can. Sure, there were several months when I made 2 or 3 preserves per month, but entire months would pass when I didn’t preserve anything at all.

I also used the wide variety of fruits and vegetables available in California as an excuse to take the easy way out of preserving. Fruit + sugar = call it done. I can’t tell you the number of jams that are sitting in my larder right now. I should be out there trying jellies! conserves! pickles! mustards! ketchups! relishes!

Selfishly, in the interest of pushing my preserving and canning boundaries, I need an excuse (and accountability) to preserve every month. Although I didn’t participate in the Tigress’s original Can Jam, she was kind enough to bless this new undertaking, though she will not be able to participate, in the interest of encouraging local food production, consumption, and conservation.

Can Jam ground rules:

• Starting October 1, 2012, the seasonal fruit or vegetable of the month will be announced on the 1st of each month. Your selected recipe can contain other fruits or vegetables, but the selected ingredient should be the preserve’s shining star. The preserve must also be water-bath canned.
• You can post your preserve any time during the month, but only during that month. Make sure to mention Can It Up and link back to the month’s original post. If you tweet, please include the hashtag #CanItUp.
• You can join every month, 1 month, every other month, or as often as you have time for. Since this is not a 12-month challenge, but an on-going one, there’s no pressure to participate every single month. I’d appreciate it if you kept me company, though.
• Winter will be scary. Don’t stress if you can’t find the selected ingredient locally — get it somewhere else. Can It Up is all about having fun.
• There may be prizes. There may not be. I can’t promise anything, other than having fun (paaaar-taaaah!) and being inspired by other bloggers.
• Encourage the other preservers you know to join us! If they blog, that’s great! If they don’t, they can join us by tweeting a photo (including the hashtag #CanItUp) or posting in the comments section for that month.
• If you don’t blog, you can join us too! Tweet a photo (include the hashtag #CanItUp) or post in the comments section for that month.

Most importantly, Can It Up should be fun! If it stinks or the ingredients stink or I stink (hopefully, not literally), then let me know. If you have suggestions for selected ingredients, let me know. If you want to host 1 (or several) months, let me know.

I should have kept this shorter, but become chatty when excited. And I am super-duper extra excited about Can It Up!

If you’d like join us, please leave a comment, along with a way to contact you, or email me at allfourburners {{at}} gmail {{dot}} com. I can’t wait until October 1st!

Update: The Can It Up selected ingredient for October is posted!

Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving