READY IN 3+ hrs

Sweet and Sour Jam - Not Just for Chicken

Read Reviews (9)

"This was a food recipe challenge that was a nice surprise recipe. This recipe makes an excellent glaze for Sweet and Sour Chicken like you get in a Chinese-style restaurant. I've made it with meatballs as well." — mis7up

Directions

Wearing rubber gloves and avoiding touching your eyes or face, seed and mince the habanero pepper. Place the habanero pepper, apricots, shallots, green and red bell pepper, pineapple, cherry tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and lime juice into a large pot over medium heat, and stir in the pectin until dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, and mix in the white and brown sugars, stirring until completely dissolved. Return the jam to a full rolling boil, add the butter to reduce foaming, and boil hard for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Turn off heat, and skim and discard any foam that forms on the jam. Pack the jam into the sterilized jars, and top each with a sterilized lid and ring.
Simmer the filled jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, then remove the jars and store upside-down on a cloth towel for about 5 minutes. Turn right side up, and allow the lids to seal (listen for the popping sound). Let jars cool completely.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 2 hrs
COOK 25 mins
READY IN 3 hrs 30 mins

Footnotes

Cook's Notes
This is a very special jam recipe. It makes a great glaze for sweet and sour chicken with rice. You can even use pork instead of chicken and maybe even beef. See my recipe box for Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice recipe.
Seal is good on lids when lid center pops inward. Normally it takes an 20 minutes to an hour and a half. Test the lid by poking the center; if the lid pops back and forth, it's not sealed yet. If the lid pops in or isn't able to pop up, the seal is great and you can continue to let the jars cool. If the jar doesn't seal after 2 hours, I unscrew the lid, rewipe the lid rim and reseal, place back into the water bath for 10 minutes and repeat the process.

Reviews More Reviews

Jun 04, 2010

This was an amazing jam recipe. I couldn't believe it when I was canning it. This recipe was a food blog competition. Sort of like an Iron Chef from amother foodie website. The idea was to create a recipe with 2 star ingredients, then blog about it. Then others would vote on "would they make it" Well this was the result of a 2nd attempt. I was going for a spin on a citrus glaze for baked/grilled fish. The 2 ingredients were apricots and shallots. When I put it all together it had an amazing zing of flavors. And one that I couldn't believe was in comparasion to Sweet & Sour glaze from many of a fine chinese resturant I have ever eaten at....shocked and thrilled I couldn't wait to share with others. I have made nnumberous batches for friends and families in a small time frame since coming up with this recipe. Hope everyone else enjoys as much as we have. Note: 2 half pint jars can utilize 1 bag of frozen meatballs as well as 1 bag of popcorn chicken in the freezer section.

—mis7up

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Aug 31, 2010

Excellent recipe. We use it on chicken drumettes off the grill. Need to make more next time. Does anyone know if I can double the recipe and still get this to firm up?

—smoss

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9 Ratings

Jul 26, 2010

We love this recipe for an easy meal. We followed the recipe (x4). At the end of the afternoon,our home smells wounderful. The 2 alteration: a)adding worcestershire sauce to taste for depth, before the pection/sugar. b)Even though we (x4) the batch we only used a 1tbsp of minced jalepeno peppers. It turns out to be mild enough for our younger family members. In the end we ended up with 3-1Liters & 9-500mls canning jars. Hint* to ratio: 1/2 pint = 1cup =250mls

—charityluvsdave

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Jul 14, 2010

Made exactly to recipe, (except no cilantro). And made 1 1/2 batches w/ only 1 package pectin so it is more of a sauce and less of a jam. Used it last night as a glaze for cut-up, pork chops; also served some on the side for cooked carrots/squash and for the rice. Delicious.

—MaryD

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Jul 16, 2010

I love this stuff! I canned the jam a few weeks ago and finally used it this weekend. My husband said it could use a little more heat, but I thought it was perfect!

—Emerald2212

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Jul 30, 2011

I have "tons" of ripe Apriums and thought I would give this recipe a try. We think it's fabulous, but could use a little more "heat" for our taste. Also, next batch I'll thinly slice the shallots and then quarter the slices. I didn't like the way they appeared "stringy" when ladling the jam into the jars. After filling all the jars I couldn't wait to lick the spoon, LOL. I can't wait to try this on either the chicken or meatballs. Thanks for such a creative recipe!

—Sherry

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Sep 30, 2011

This is soooo incredibly good! I didn't make it myself -- my best friend canned this (using peaches) and sent me a few jars. I served them with baked chicken nuggets. I did find I had to cut the jam with rice wine vinegar to get it a bit thinner and a touch less sweet, but I'm sure that just depends on what you're using it for. This is absolutely fantastic, the only thing that could possibly improve it would be some heat :) Thanks for the recipe, mis7up!

—JARRIE

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Sep 03, 2011

What a great reciepe, everyone I've shared this with is hooked, whether its spread over cream cheese and eaten with crackers or on salmon and chicken, its a real winner!

—andi

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Nutrition

Calories
43 kcal
2%

Carbohydrates
10.9 g
4%

Cholesterol
< 1 mg
< 1%

Fat
0 g
< 1%

Fiber
0.1 g
< 1%

Protein
0.1 g
< 1%

Sodium
< 1 mg
< 1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Sweet and Sour Jam - Not Just for Chicken

Serving Size: 1/140 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 140
Amount Per Serving
** Calories: 43
** Calories from Fat: < 1

% Daily Value *
** Total Fat 0g < 1 %
** Saturated Fat 0g < 1 %
** Cholesterol < 1mg < 1 %
** Sodium < 1mg < 1 %
** Potassium 19mg < 1 %
** Total Carbohydrates 10.9g 4 %
** Dietary Fiber 0.1g < 1 %
** Protein 0.1g < 1 %
** Sugars 10.5g
** Vitamin A 2 %
** Vitamin C 3 %
** Calcium < 1 %
** Iron < 1 %
** Thiamin < 1 %
** Niacin < 1 %
** Vitamin B6 < 1 %
** Magnesium < 1 %
** Folate < 1 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.