Raspberry (or any fruit) Hot Pepper Jelly
2 cups hot peppers (jalapeno, cayenne, chili), chopped fine
1 1/2 cups bell peppers, chopped fine
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup fruit juice (or water)
1 box pectin (Sure-Jell)
5 cups sugar

jelly jars and lids

Wash jelly jars in hot soapy water and rinse well
Chop peppers very fine (I use a food processor)
Put in large, heavy bottom pot
Add vinegar, fruit juice (or water), and pectin
Put jar lids in pan of water on stove
Place on medium-high to high heat and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
When it boils, add sugar and return to boil.
Turn jar lids on high to allow to come to a boil
Maintain rolling boil of pepper mixture for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir until foam is reabsorbed.
Pour liquid into clean jars. Wipe rims with clean, wet cloth to remove stickiness. Place hot lids on and screw tightly.
(You can process the jars in a hot water bath or pressure cooker to ensure sealing.)

How we came to spice things up:

As days wore on with the three of us, Rebecca, Joanne and Me, just doing our best to keep dishes in our 2 three-bay refrigerated cases in the storefront, it became apparent we needed more help. Making everything from scratch proved to be a pretty big task. After seeing we were indeed going to be busy, we decided to hire back another employee, Sue,  of the former caterer to handle the front and pitch in for dish washing and cooking. With that settled, I turned to our food vendors to make use of some of their frozen items and baked goods to fill up our shelves.
It was somewhat embarrassing to have folks come in and only have a couple things left in the refrigerator to choose from. Now this was a good problem, in a way. It meant people liked our food and that what we were making was delicious. We knew this, because as any cook knows, you must taste your own food to ensure quality. And I was quickly gaining weight “testing” our food.
It was somewhat crushing to work all day making huge pots of spaghetti and meatballs, or baked ziti; or trays and trays of meatloaf or roast and veggies; or pounds upon pounds of chicken salad and fruit salad; or huge convection ovens full of freshly-baked breads and cookies and cakes – only to have them all gone within a couple hours of placing them in the refrigerator.
Having frozen pecan-crusted tilapia, seasoned vegetables, baby potatoes, various appetizers, and breads from our food vendors ready and waiting in our freezer case was most helpful and our customers loved it.
I never knew so many things were available to buy ready-made. I realized a lot of what restaurants sell as homemade is purchased and heated or thawed or finished baking on site, thus “homemade.” But it was eye-opening to see a large portion of the food I’d believed to be special to a restaurant, simply a purchased item.
We still wanted to make as much as possible from scratch, and we did. But we did buy a few types of cookies and breads to bake and package for our shelves. It proved helpful, tasty and no one seemed to mind that it wasn’t from scratch.
We also became a vendor for a salad dressing company, a pre-packaged soup mix company and an enamelware company. These things help fill up our empty walls and shelving.
However, we wanted to offer unique items our customers could only get from us. So I looked through my recipe collection. I have a great pool of great cooks in my family going back generations and still have their recipes I use regularly. I decided to jar and sell raspberry and peach hot pepper jelly. I used to think this sounded gross. But I was wrong. It is delicious! On a cracker or crostini with cream cheese or manchego cheese, it is the bomb! You can also use this as a glaze for chicken or pork chops.
Bonus: It looks beautiful filling up a shelf!