Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Best Hostess Gifts of the Season: Part 3



I opened my Bon Appetit magazine this month (December 2008) and had to chuckle as I read "Dear BA Foodist". This is a column written by Andrew Knowlton, a well known restaurant editor. This particular column was written about hostess gifts. He said he used to be a Bottle-o-wine type of guy until he watched time after time his "gift" being drunk by the guests of the party and the host never even saw he brought it. He decided then and there that he would start giving away a homemade food gift. His choice was his grandmothers liver pate. My gift of choice is my Aunt Marion's Green Pepper Jelly or Grandma Kortright's Candied Nuts. Both are such a treat to me. So much so, I even have trouble looking at the pictures in this blog - because I ate, and ate, and ate way too much pepper jelly in the making. I hope you try this lovely, festive treat and tune in tomorrow for my Grandma's Candied nuts!



Aunt Marion's Green Pepper Jelly
6 large green peppers, cut in squares
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
6 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
One bottle pectin

Place half the green pepper pieces in an electric blender container with half the vinegar. Cover and process until liquified. Pour into saucepan. Repeat with remaining pepper and vinegar and add to saucepan.
Stir in the red pepper, sugar and salt and heat to boiling. Stir in liquid pectin and boil until somewhat thickened. Add a few drops of green food coloring and pour into sterilized jars and seal. Good with fish and meats. To die for over a log of cream cheese!



See you tomorrow for Grandma Kortright's Candied Nuts!

1 comment:

Karen said...

Looks good - and yes, it would be great over cream cheese! One of my favorites is a 3-pepper jelly: jalapeno, green and red bell pepper - real pretty for Christmas giveaways.