Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Hot Pepper Butter



It's not really a butter at all, it's a mustard, and good gah is it soooo delicious!

I remember eating this stuff as a child on cheese sandwiches. I also remember dipping hot soft pretzels in it. It's tangy and sweet with a hint of pepper kick...did I mention it was damn good?

I used up the last bit of peppers from the garden. I had mostly bell peppers and was worried that the butter wouldn't have enough heat. We like it spicy around here so I threw in about five of the last remaining "Fish" peppers (similar to jalapeno) and it was PERFECT!

I used the food processor to chop the peppers very fine. I like this butter to be more like a spread than a relish. I also used the food processor to wisk the flour and water together so I wouldn't have any lumps in my finished product.

If you have any sort of sinus problems, cooking this stuff will surely clear it up!
That vinegar/mustard/pepper mix packs a punch!

This recipe gave us four pints and two quarts. I'm not even sure why I bothered to can it at all because it surely won't last long around here! I am going to tuck away at least one jar to save for the holidays. This spread is AMAZING on ham or turkey sandwiches!

HOT PEPPER BUTTER

1 quart prepared yellow mustard
1 quart cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Peppers as follows:
36 large banana peppers or 40 medium banana peppers or 50 small banana peppers

(As always, I deviated from the original recipe. Here's how I tweaked it!
I added 5 hot peppers and used what we had out of the garden. Next time I will also smoke/grill the peppers for added flavor! I added 3 cloves of garlic, 2 TBS. of onion powder, more sea salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper.)

Directions:
Seed and chop peppers. Mix all ingredients together. Bring to boiling and cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring constantly or until desired thickness. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Cap with hot lids process in hot water bath for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Makes 8 pints.



1 comment:

Rachel said...

Oh, thank you! This sounds like something that DH will enjoy.

(Did you get your Monday Menu planning done? :-) I always look forward to seeing it...)