Pepper Jelly

[Speyeglass]

Expert jelly maker needed ! My wife introduced me to this site so she wouldn't have to listen to my complaining, god bless her. I make the best tasting mandarin pepper jelly (HOT) with one exception, sugar crystals. I follow Certo directions that come with the box but my ingredience change as follow. I dehydrate my chiles and jalepeno and grind them into powder instead of fresh cut up peppers when I add to the recipe. I also add zest from the oranges. Three years now trying to perfect but I still get diamond shape sugar crystals forming in the jelly after it stores for a few months or after opening and in the frig. These crystal are not small diamond shape but the size if they were real I fear my wife would leave me for. I've tried various time lines with boiling but can't find the reason. Any advise would be appreciated, I'm good in the garden but lousy in the kitchen!

[Pigzzilla]

The only thing I can think of regarding sugar crystals, is the sugar is just not disolved completely. This might be due to not enough liquid. The peppers being dried change the solid to liquid ratio. The natural liquid in the peppers is not there, the dried peppers are re-absorbing liquid, not leaving enough for the sugar to totally disolve, resulting in sugar crystals developing.

 

Now that I have used up all my remaining science knowledge, I'm gonna go can someone!...something!.............pigz

[Speyeglass]

The only thing I can think of regarding sugar crystals, is the sugar is just not disolved completely. This might be due to not enough liquid. The peppers being dried change the solid to liquid ratio. The natural liquid in the peppers is not there, the dried peppers are re-absorbing liquid, not leaving enough for the sugar to totally disolve, resulting in sugar crystals developing.

 

Now that I have used up all my remaining science knowledge, I'm gonna go can someone!...something!.............pigz

 

Thank-you, makes perfect sense to me. Will try to add the juice from the mandarins along with the zest to increase the liquid. I'll see if I can find my science kit , beakers, viles , scales ects. My honor is at stake here along with my future jelly. you may have just saved us both!!