Day 44

Hot Pepper Jam: I'm always up for indigenous culinary treats, so when the GF visited her family in rural Tennessee this past weekend, she was on the lookout for some blog-worthy items for me. Her parents built a house in the TN mountains, and they live there for half the year now that they're retired. Despite the GF's busy weekend schedule, she took the time to bring me something tasty from a country store owned by Mennonites. I don't know much about Mennonite practices, but the hot pepper jam she brought me looked good. Homemade jams/jellies/pickles are always better than store-bought, so I was eager to try it.

The jam looked sort of pinkish-red in color, and had lots of visible chunks of pepper floating in it. Aside from the peppers (jalapeno and sweet), other ingredients included sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, pectin, and citric acid. I decided to throw some canned biscuits in the oven and try it as a topping on those. Once the biscuits were done, I scooped out a portion of jam, and made sure I had some pepper chunks in there. At first, it seemed like I only tasted the sweetness, but the heat from the peppers came soon after. There was also a little tartness, but mostly sweet/hot. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure I'll have no problem finishing the jar - it was a nice change from the usual strawberry/grape/etc. flavors of jam that I'm used to. Maybe next time I'll try it on some homemade biscuits.