I know this will sound really strange, but oh, so yummy!

We had an abundance of strawberries a month ago due to Aldi’s having quarts of strawberries for $.49 – $.79 each.  So we ate strawberries. We froze strawberries.  And we made lots of jam.  In looking for new strawberry ideas I found several recipes for Strawberry, Mint, Pepper Jam.  Interesting.  Since we had all the ingredients we gave it a try.

Most recipes are an unique why of making jams and jellies involving marinating the strawberries over night and cooking with a candy thermometer.  I didn’t want to do that so essentially I just made up my own version based off the way I make Strawberry Jam.

Strawberry, Mint, Pepper Jam

5 cups mashed or strawberry puree

7 cups sugar

1 box sure-jell

1 tbles butter (optional for foaming)

10 – 20 whole peppercorns fresh ground

10 – 20 mint leaves shredded finely

 

I throw whole strawberries into the food processor and give it a whirl for just a second.  Just enough to leave it chunky still.  Measure out 5 cups.  Follow the directions on the sure-jell box.  Add the mint leaves and pepper while heating up the strawberries.  Here is where you need to play around with the taste.  We added a lot of mint but still didn’t have enough noticeable mint taste.  (Mint’s flavor changes according to the rain and weather, so it is temperamental.)  We add a lot of pepper but next batch we will add even more.  Process jam as directed from instructions.

The pepper somehow makes the jam not quite as sweet and gives it a little surprising zest.  It was hard to notice the mint after the jam was processed and cooled.  But just Strawberry Pepper Jam is really good.  I think I’ll make my jam like that more often than just plain Strawberry Jam.  I like the extra kick.