HABENERO HOME RUN

I finally got brave enough to try some of our jalapeno/habenero blend jelly that I made last summer after harvesting the jalapenos and habeneros we grew in our garden.

I was a little nervous about how 'hot' this jelly was going to be.  I hadn't tried it yet.  It was a new addition to my jelly recipe and I had been loving the straight jalapeno jelly I'd made the previous two summers. It has good flavor and just a touch of heat.  I love spicy food, but I don't like food so spicy that it overpowers the flavor of the food you have added the spice to.  Was this one gonna be a bust?

Anyway, I decided to put a dab of the jalapeno/habenero jelly on a fresh "everything" bagel I toasted for breakfast on Sunday. First, I spread some whipped cream cheese on top and then spread a small amount of the jelly on top of that. 

Oh. My. Goodness....It was out-of-the-park delicioso! It was the perfect amount of heat.  How perfect?  I could have eaten the whole jar. 

But I didn't.  I showed a considerable amount of restraint, closed the lid and put the jar into the fridge.

We did break out a half a block of cream cheese and dropped a few spoonfuls of the jelly over the top and scooped it up with baked pita chips as an appetizer before dinner that night.  Another home run!

My wheels began churning about creating this summer's batches of jalapeno jelly.

In addition to my original jalapeno jelly recipe (made with some seeded and unseeded jalapenos) and the jalapeno/habenero jelly batch (made with the aforementioned jalapeno blend and one seeded habenero, I am going to make a batch with an unseeded habenero...and maybe a fourth batch of two seeded habeneros...yeah! 

I'll see what that brings and go from there...unlimited concoctions of jalapeno jelly goodness shall be cooked and canned in my kitchen!