Spicy Texas Cucuzza Pepper Relish Recipes

SWEET AND SPICY PEPPER RELISH

Steps:

• Wearing rubber or latex gloves, trim tops off chiles. Working in batches, pulse chiles, bell peppers, and onion in a food processor until chopped into fine bits, about 1 minute per batch. Transfer to a nonreactive 3-quart pot.
• Stir sugar, vinegar, and salt into chile mixture and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring more frequently toward end of cooking to prevent scorching, until thickened, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Pour or ladle relish into clean, wide-mouth, half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims clean with a damp paper towel. Let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
• Apply clean lids. Enjoy immediately, store in fridge 2 to 3 weeks, or freeze up to 6 months.

SWEET AND SPICY PEPPER RELISH

Steps:

• Remove the stems from the habanero, jalapeño, and ghost peppers. For a less spicy pepper relish, also remove the seeds and ribs (see note below on customizing the heat level). Coarsely chop the hot peppers.
• In a food processor (we usually use the largest of our Ninja containers), combine the habaneros, jalapeños, ghost peppers, roasted red peppers, and garlic. Pulse until evenly chopped but not finely minced or pureed (about 8 pulses, scraping the sides as needed between pulses - refer to the photo in our post).
• In a medium saucepan, combine the processed pepper mixture and all other ingredients.
• Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to about medium-low to maintain a simmer (adjusting heat setting as needed). Simmer, uncovered, until the pepper relish is reduced to your liking, keeping in mind that it will continue to thicken a little further as it cools. The exact time this will take can vary from one batch to the next, depending on the size of your pan and how closely you keep it to a simmer, but it will probably take about 45-65 minutes to achieve the consistency you see in my photographs. Also, if you choose to roast your own red peppers (see note below) instead of using jarred peppers, your pepper relish will probably thicken more quickly. (Note that how much you thicken your relish will affect the final yield of the recipe. I have a slightly different yield every time I make this hot pepper relish.)
• Remove from heat and cool completely before storing in the refrigerator or freezing. See serving suggestions in the post for lots of ideas on how to use this pepper relish.

HOT PEPPER RELISH

Steps:

• Put peppers and onions through food chopper, or chop in water in blender and drain.
• Place in 6 quart kettle.
• Add salt; cover with boiling water.
• Let stand 10 minutes.
• Drain and discard liquid.
• Add vinegar and sugar to vegs.
• Bring to boil, simmer 20 minutes.
• Ladle into 7 pint jars, pressing down as you pack so liquid covers vegs.
• Wipe jar rim, adjust lids.
• Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes.
• Start to count processing time when water in canner returns to boiling.
• Remove jars.

SPICY TEXAS CUCUZZA-PEPPER RELISH

Steps:

• Finely chop cucuzza, onion, bell peppers and jalapeños. (This can be a time consuming step, so I use my Pampered Chef food chopper).
• Place cucuzza, onions, bell peppers and jalapeños in a large mixing bowl.
• Sprinkle pickling salt over cucuzza mixture and stir well to combine.
• Let cucuzza mixture sit on the counter at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Thoroughly rinse cucuzza mixture in a strainer under cold running water.
• Use a wooden spoon to press the veggies against the side of the strainer to drain as much water as you can.
• Place drained cucuzza mixture in a clean bowl.
• Let sit on the counter for an additional 15 minutes, then drain again to remove excess water.
• In a large stockpot, combine vinegar, sugar, Thai peppers, celery seeds, cayenne pepper, turmeric and black pepper.
• Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove Thai peppers from pot and discard.
• Add chopped cucuzza mixture to the stockpot.
• Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until veggies are tender.
• In a small bowl, combine water and cornstarch; mix to dissolve.
• Pour cornstarch mixture into stockpot and cook for 5 minutes.
• Pour into sterilized canning jars and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

HOT RED-PEPPER RELISH

Steps:

• Combine peppers, onion, and 2 teaspoons salt in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Transfer mixture to a sieve set over a bowl and let stand 30 minutes. Run under cold water for a few seconds to remove excess salt, then thoroughly drain.
• In a small saucepan, bring vinegar and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in pepper mixture. Let cool completely. Transfer to resealable jars with lids. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 days and up to 1 month, or follow our canning instructions and store at room temperature up to 1 year.