Here's another recipe that I adapted from "Small Batch Preserving". I have a forest of spearmint outside, so it was a good use for the mint. The original recipe called for cider vinegar and liquid pectin, and less mint. I upped the mint, substituted white wine vinegar, and used powdered pectin. The mint pieces had to be gently shaken after canning every once in awhile to keep them in suspension. The flavor is very strongly mint, with just a bite at the end. We tried this with grilled lamb last night, and it was heavenly. Enjoy!

Jalapeño Mint Jelly

Makes 4 half-pints

2 cups spearmint leaves, chopped fine, divided

2 jalapeño peppers, seeded, diced

3/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 Tbs lemon juice

3 1/2 cups sugar

1 envelope powdered pectin

In a small saucepan, heat 1 3/4 cups mint leaves with 1 1/2 cups water, bring to boil, shut off heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain mint infusion into large saucepan, squeezing out mint leaves to extract as much mint as possible (I used a coffee filter in a small colander for straining). Discard boiled leaves.

Add vinegar, lemon juice, chopped jalapeños, and pectin to the mint infusion, stir well. Heat to hard boiling, stirring constantly. Add sugar and keep stirring until the jelly has boiled hard for about 2 minutes, or until it has started to thicken. This will bubble up quite a bit, so make sure that your pot is at least twice as large as the mixture.

Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes. Add reserved mint leaves, then pour into hot jars. BWB for 10 minutes. Gently invert jars several times during cooling to redistribute mint leaves.