Over the years I have tasted many chile jellies — both green and red.
When I wanted to develop a chile jelly of my own, I looked for a recipe that I could work with. I located one for bell-pepper jelly, but, after making the jelly a number of times using chiles of varying hotness, I decided it just wasn't flavorful or tasty enough for me.
I told Loyola Trujillo, who was then my aide at Pojoaque Middle School Library, about my problem and she suggested using an extremely hot local chile. She brought me some that her husband Martin had developed over the years in his Jacona chile patch — a mix of jalapeño and local green chile. I tried this variation in the recipe and liked it better.
By this time, we had moved to our own farm and begun growing our own chile. Since I am a wimp, I wanted a less hot chile, such as Big Jim. My husband, Ron, was also growing bell peppers. We combined the Martin chile, some medium-hot Big Jims and the bell peppers and used the original bell-pepper jelly recipe to produce a new jelly — one with good flavor and a slight hotness.
Combining the three different peppers, we had what we wanted — a very tasty chile recipe that was different from others.
The biggest problem with my chile jelly is that it doesn't always jell. Sometimes it stays soft. This is fine for pouring over cream cheese, but not for spreading. Another option is to use the soft jelly to coat chicken or pork for baking.
We start out making green-chile jelly in late summer and progress to red-chile jam later in the season. We use both types in our tea room, where we put spoonfuls of it in the center of a flower design made of three cheeses and a few nuts.
GAYLE ICE'S GREEN-CHILE JELLY
(Makes 5-7 half-pint jars)
2 cups ground peppers — a combination of bell and chile
7-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups white vinegar
1 bottle liquid pectin
Place bell peppers and chile in a blender and blend until smooth.
Boil peppers, sugar, and vinegar for 6 minutes. Add pectin and boil 3 more minutes.
Pour into sterilized jars and process in boiling water.
Gayle Ice sells her jellies and jams at the Santa Fe and Los Alamos farmers markets. Her tea room — on Ice's Organic Farm in Alcalde, eight miles north of Española — is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday through October. For reservations or information, call 505-852-2589.
