Cooking Keto With Kristie

Cowboy Candy is a popular sugar-charged marinated or “candied” jalapeno recipe that’s often served as an appetizer with cream cheese and crackers. It can also be used as a topping for burgers or served alongside a cheese platter. 

Cowboy Candy has a few basic ingredients: 
Apple cider vinegar
Jalapeno Peppers
Sugar
Spices: mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric

The traditional recipe calls for a ratio of 1 cup of sugar for every 8 ounces of peppers! I’ve avoided it not only because of the high sugar content, but also because of the spice. In spite of my personality, I’m not a fan of spicy hot foods. 

My version of the Cowboy Candy recipe has two goals. First, to give you a sugar-free option, and second, to allow you to adjust the heat from mild to menacing. 

Cowboy Candy is also a popular canning recipe. While my recipe is not intended to be canned, I will provide guidelines for safe canning if you choose to make a larger batch and water bath can Sugar-free Cowboy Candy. 

Sugar-free Options
In many high-sugar recipes, avoiding sugar is as simple as swapping out sugar for a preferred sugar substitute. In this recipe, however, you need to make a syrup with sugar, vinegar, and spices. Unfortunately, several of the better alternative sweeteners will crystallize when cooled especially if they’ve been boiled. Fortunately, we have a few options, each of which comes with pros and cons. 

One option, and the way this recipe is written, is to use a sweetener without erythritol to make the syrup, which is more likely to crystallize when cool. Xylitol (from birch, corn, or Bochasweet) or allulose are low glycemic sweeteners which can be simmered with the vinegar and used to make a syrup that will not crystallize when cool. 

Xylitol, which is often my preference for syrup or ice cream, is toxic to pets, so keep that in mind if you have family pets that could inadvertently ingest this. While Allulose can also be used to make a syrup, it’s less sweet than other sugar substitutes, so you may need to increase the volume of sweetener or add a liquid sweetener in order to suit your taste. 

A second option is to consider using a liquid sweetener such as stevia, sucralose, liquid monkfruit, etc. While a liquid sweetener will provide a sweet taste, it does not provide volume nor does it result in a thick, less viscous syrup. If you want the end result to be close to the original, you won’t want to rely only on a liquid sweetener although you could add a few drops of liquid sweetener to whichever granulated sweetener you prefer. 

A third option is to use an erythritol-based granulated sweetener such as Sukrin or Swerve. To avoid crystallization, you will need to simmer the vinegar and spices first, add the peppers and other ingredients and simmer. Then, remove from heat and add the sweetener. Unlike sugar, the erythritol-based sweetener should easily dissolve in the warm liquid without being boiled. 

While you will not have a thick syrup, you should have the bulk needed to cover all of the peppers, and the cowboy candy should be sweet enough to enjoy. The important step to avoid having crystallization is to avoid boiling or simmering the erythritol based sweetener. 

Monkfruit
Please note that pure monkfruit is highly concentrated, like stevia. Any granulated monkfruit is almost always combined with erythritol for bulk. Please check the ingredient list on any sweetener product that you use. If it is pure monkfruit, please see the liquid sweetener section above. If it is a combination of erythritol and monkfruit, then please treat as you would any erythritol based sweetener (see above). 

Adjusting the Heat (Spice)
If you prefer mild heat, then you can still enjoy cowboy candy with a few good options. 

For the mildest, least amount of heat, use a combination of peppers with no spice. Baby bell peppers, fresh red, yellow, orange, or green bell peppers, or fresh paprika peppers are good options. There are also “no heat” jalapeno varieties such as ‘nadapeno’ or ‘tricked you’ jalapeno peppers that you can grow or may find at local farmers markets. 

For mild heat, you can combine any of the above with a few jalapeno peppers. Removing the seeds and any white pith or membrane reduces the level of heat as well. Raw sweet cherry peppers, which may have mild heat, can be combined with fresh jalapenos with the seeds and membranes removed. I use a combination of peppers with no or mild heat and jalapenos with seeds and membranes removed. 

For medium heat, use all green or red jalapeno (red tends to be spicier) and include all of the seeds and membranes. The spice level may vary based on the peppers you use, but including all of the jalapenos usually results in a high level of spice. 

For maximum spice, use a combination of jalapeno peppers with spicier peppers such as cayenne, habanero, or even Carolina Reapers. The spicier the peppers you use, the spicier your final product will be. 

Note
Be sure to use gloves when processing peppers. Even milder peppers such as jalapenos can cause skin irritation. Once the oils are on your hands, you can also transfer the heat to your eyes, mouth, or other sensitive areas. 

Tip: When I’ve inadvertently exposed my hands to hot peppers, rubbing a teaspoon of olive oil into my hands and then washing with a dishwashing liquid such as Dawn has helped remove the volatile oils from my hands. 

Can this recipe be safely canned? 
While this recipe was written to be used as a small batch recipe for consumption within 2-3 months, what makes the original recipe safe for water bath canning is the amount of vinegar that is used. My recipe uses the same amount of vinegar as many that have been tested for safe canning practices. 

If you choose to can this recipe, please review safe canning practices at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. You will also need to scale this recipe up for volume in order to have enough to can. Third, remember that the heat required for canning may cause an erythritol-based sweetener to crystallize when cooled, especially over time, so you may want to use one of the other granulated sweeteners mentioned above. 

This recipe, with the amount of vinegar I use, should be safely kept refrigerated for 2-3 months; however, this small batch is likely to be consumed within a week or two, especially if served to a crowd.