Cowboy Candy

Preserve your jalapenos and make some cowboy candy. These are candied jalapenos that have the perfect balance of sweet and spice.

Jalapenos are my favorite pepper! They are so versatile and go great with just about everything. I’ve always grown them in my garden and each year I seem to add more and more plants because I’m never happy with how many I harvest. I want to be drowning in them. They are great because they keep for a long time fresh in the fridge, and freeze well, but they also can wonderfully. My favorite way to preserve them because they will keep for years on the shelf.

The taste of it speaks for itself, they are just as good as candy. Quiet addictive honestly. I canned my most recent batch in half pints and I’m going to just do pints from now on because we fly through a half pint. Between my husband and I, we go through a half pint in a week or two. We put them on everything.

Some of my favorite ways to enjoy these are on pizzas, nachos, burgers, and on a cracker with some cream cheese with a couple of the jalapenos on top.

It’s so nice being able to go in the pantry in the wintertime and grab a jar of these to add to meals instead of only being able to enjoy them during the gardening season. They are very easy to can, so if you’ve never water bath canned before, this would be a great first recipe to try!

Ingredients

• Jalapenos
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Granulated Sugar
• Celery Seed
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Granulated Garlic

Instructions

• Prep all your jars, lids, and other canning items. This includes washing the jars, lids, and rings. Fill your canner with water. Set out a dish towel to set the finished jars on, canning tongs, and a plastic knife for debubbling.
• Wash and dry the jalapenos. Remove the stems from them all and discard. Slice each jalapeno into coin shaped pieces with uniform thicknesses. An 1/8 inch thick ideally. Set aside.
• In a large pot, bring the apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar, celery seed, red pepper flakes, and granulated garlic to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Bring to a boil again and add the jalapeno coins. Once it’s at a hard boil again after adding in the jalapenos, reduce the heat to a simmer for 4 minutes.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer the jalapenos into your jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.
• Once all jalapenos have been moved into the jars, reheat the syrup to a full rolling boil for 6 minutes. Ladle it into the jars up to the 1/2-inch headspace mark. Debubble. Add more syrup if headspace increased after debubbling.
• Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean, damp paper towel. Put your lid on and then your ring. Tighten fingertip tight.
• Place jars in canner and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring the water to a full rolling boil and process for 15 minutes or 10 minutes for half pints. When the timer goes off, remove the jars from the canner and set on a dish towel on a level surface. Let cool for 24 hours before touching them. After the 24 hours, wipe them down with a damp washcloth and remove the ring. Label with the name and date. Any jars that didn’t seal, put in the refrigerator and enjoy.