# Question on a pepper mustard recipe



## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

DH's co-worker (they are also friends) gave us a jar of Pepper Mustard that his wife makes. It is made with hot banana pappers and it is SO good. I told him I wanted the recipe and his wife called and gave it to me. The recipe is thickened with flour. Is this okay? She seems to have no problem canning it - 5# pressure for 10 minutes. I really want to make some of this but may have to wait until next summer as I need 36 banana peppers and I'm thinking those will be hard to come by now. She also made some using jalenpeno's but we haven't tried that one yet. Mostly I was just wondering about using flour to thicken something and than canning it.


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

if you google Pepper Mustard, several recipes come up...they all have flour in them and they are canned in sterile jars, so I would just make the recipe and not worry about it....hope that helps some...


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

Here is the link to one of the recipes...
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/hot-pepper-mustard/detail.aspx

one more...
HOT PEPPER MUSTARD 

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1830,156163-236203,00.html
Content Copyright Â© 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1/2 bushel hot peppers, chopped
1 qt. vinegar
1 qt. prepared mustard
3 tbsp. salt
3 lb. brown sugar
1 c. flour
1 pt. water

Combine peppers, vinegar, mustard, salt and brown sugar. Cook for 15 minutes. Then stir in flour and water and cook for 10 minutes more. Pour in jars and seal.


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

There are 2 issues with flour or other thickeners. They tend to break down during processing. And, if the mixture is too thick, you run into density issues. I do know that NCHFP does have a few approved recipes that allow flour as thickeners.

I would suggest 2 options.

1) First - how much flour is in there? If it's a tiny bit, I probably wouldn't worry about it.

2) You could substitute Clear Jel, which is an approved thickener.


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## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

Here's the recipe she gave me.

Hot Pepper Mustard
36 hot banana peppers
1 quart prepared mustard
1 quart cidar vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Chop peppers coarsely and put into blender in batches with some of the vinegar to chop them finer.
Combine all ingreadients except flour in pot and bring to a boil. Make a flour/water slurry (like you were doing gravy) with 1/2 cup of flour at a time to thicken. Boil hard 3 minutes. Process at 5# pressure for 10 minutes.

She did say to do the flour 1/2 cup at a time til thickened so you might not need to use all 1 1/2 cups in the recipe. The original recipe called for 6 cups sugar but she said that made it too sweet so she only uses 4 cups.


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

Here is the recipe I use. Instead of flour it calls for corn starch. It's delicious. I wish I could remember who posted a few years ago and give proper credit. I haven't had any problem canning it at all. After about 6 months, you just need to stir it a little bit.

*Banana Pepper Mustard*

1qt. Prepared Mustard

1 qt. (4 cups) Cider Vinegar

9 Tbsp. Cornstarch

6 Cup Sugar

40-50 Banana Peppers (Chopped very fine)

"REMOVE SEEDS OR MUSTARD WILL BE VERY HOT"

Combine Mustard, 3 Cups Vinegar, Sugar, and Peppers in a 4qt. Dutch Oven or stock pot..
Bring to a Boil over Medium Heat, (stirring almost constantly).
Mix Cornstarch with remaining 1 Cup of Vinegar.
Slowly Stir into Mustard Mixture until thickened.
Remove from Heat and Seal in Hot Jars.


Oh and it's great for pretzel dipping!


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Seems the issue is the liquid in the recipe since you use a lot of vinegar, and prepared mustard, and the fresh peppers also put out some juice. A few things you might try if you're worried about using flour/starch to thicken and don't want to use ClearGel: 1) dehydrate the diced peppers first, 2) use 1 1/3 cup of ground dry mustard rather than a qt of prepared mustard, and 3) allow the mixture to cook down and thicken through evaporation. In the end, you'll have less volume because there is less liquid overall, but the pH should still be plenty high enough to pressure can at 10# for 15 minutes (same as BBB recommendations for other high pH homemade condiments).

ClearGel is a great product... for certain things... but my experience with it makes me suspect you won't get the right consistency for mustard if you use it to thicken this recipe. Works well for BBQ, ketchups, and *some* gravies but it can make other things rubberized or clotted goo rather than thick creamy goodness if you aren't extremely careful.


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

"Mostly I was just wondering about using flour to thicken something and than canning it."

You are right that you aren't supposed to use any thickeners unless it's a tested recipe. Some choose to follow the guidelines and some don't.

But there is an easy way around your concerns if like me you want to "have your cake and eat it too".  It's the same one we use to make pie filling since we don't like Clear Jel and can't use the corn starch or flour in it either. 

Make and can it without the thickener then after you open the jar you can thicken it and store it in the fridge with no problems. Works fine.


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## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks for all the great replies. I am going to try this recipe next summer I think. DH would love me to make some now but I don't know where I'd get that many banana peppers this time of year - or at least at a reasonable price. Next summer I will just grow a bunch myself.
arrocks - I had not thought about thickening when I open the jar. That's another option!


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