Runaway October

Good thing I proof­read or the title of this post would have been Mange Habanero Jam, and I don’t think that would sound nearly as appetizing.

I was recently reac­quainted with a local source of pro­duce, by my friend Niki. Lemme back up, actu­ally. My boys — Matt included — can go through fruit like it’s going out of  style. (As a mat­ter of fact, my 2 year old just snuck out of bed, came down stairs, snatched a tan­ger­ine and asked me to peel it. At 10:30pm.) On just about any given day, I have to start telling them no or I have to face the, uh, bio­log­i­cal after­math. Not fun. So one of my com­mon quests is to find the best deal for us on pro­duce. We’ve tried local co-ops, we’ve begrudg­ingly paid super high prices at health food stores, we’ve gone for the cheap­est pos­si­ble ala Wal­Fart. But it seems you always end up where you started.

Mango Jalapeño and Mango Habanero Jam

The Super­sti­tion Ranch Mar­ket on Apache Trail always has one good deal or another. Some of you non-Arizonians have to real­ize that not much grows here, so 4 pounds of pears for $1 is a smok­ing deal. Or Honey Crisp apples at $1/pound. Or a quart of black­ber­ries for $.69. We’re pretty much in heaven every time we go in. Some­times we go a lit­tle too crazy and we can’t eat our spoils fast enough. So Niki and I have turned to jam. But I’m not gonna lie. We’re kinda test­ing the waters to see if we’d make it with our own Farmer’s Mar­ket booth.

Mango Habanero Jam

We came across this recipe at 28 cooks and knew we had to try it. It was sim­ple, took only a few ingre­di­ents and sounded pos­i­tively deli­cious. The prep was sim­ple and there was hardly any work involved. Just blend it up, boil it and pour it into jars. It set up beau­ti­fully. 28 Cooks says it’s not as hot as you may think, but don’t be fooled. It has a kick, albeit a very deli­cious one. I’ve tried it on sharp ched­dar (yum), cot­tage cheese (yum), bread (yum) and a soft goat cheese spread (yum). It’ll make a deli­cious glaze for roasts. I’ve heard it’s deli­cious on grilled cheese sand­wiches? I’ll  have to try that too.

It very much reminds me of the spicysweet tamarind mex­i­can candy as well, and I can see myself eat­ing this straight out of the jar… Wait, Niki, my mom and I have all already done that…

Niki opted to use half jalapeños and half habaneros in her batch, hence the very green jam instead of orange like mine. It’s def­i­nitely more kid friendly that way, but still has a nice bit of spice and an amaz­ing taste.

So if it sounds like some­thing you’d like to try, drop on by and see Niki or myself, or just make it your­self! It’s easy! Head over to 28 Cooks. The recipe is right here.

Mango Jalapeño Jam