This Jezebel is NUTS!

Mr. Peanut

In 1906 Omedeo Obici, originally from Italy, founded the Planters Peanut Company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

In 1916 Mr. Obici held a contest asking the public to draw a logo that he thought would best suit the company. A young boy from Suffolk named Antonio Gentile drew the peanut with arms, legs, and a cane, and won the $5.00 prize. Mr. Obici ended up befriending the boy and his siblings and helped put them all through college.

In 1918, Mr. Peanut first appeared in print in the Saturday Evening Post becoming the official mascot.

In 2014 the Smithsonian acquired the original drawings enshrining Mr. Peanut into American history.

(Yet another successful immigrant story added to our rich American immigration history.)

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Good ‘Ole Georgia Peanuts

(Perfect Just As They Are)

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Growing up in Georgia meant lots of Peanuts, and lots of Peanut Butter.

(Retro Rome, Georgia. We would put Peanuts into our Coke. The Salt from the Peanuts would cause it to fizz. In Georgia, Peanuts and Coca-Cola go hand in hand. Rome does have it’s Coca-Cola plant, and Rome does consume the most Coke in the United States.)

Also, Coca-Cola Used To Be GREEN!

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When it came to Peanut Butter in my family home, that meant a big bucket of JFG Peanut Butter.

It was the cheapest and had less sugar. It came in a big bucket too. It was real Peanut Butter minus all the sugar and additives in the other popular brands. My parents never bought Peter Pan or Skippy, the big name brands that all the other Southern families would buy, it was JFG for us! Also, most southern African-American’s did too. They know good peanut butter!

There were plenty of Peanut Butter Sandwiches, and Peanut Butter spread between Saltine Crackers, Vanilla Wafers, and Graham Crackers, not to mention all the Peanut Butter Fudge we would consume. Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies, and Peanut Butter Brownies. And if we were hungry in the afternoon we would grab a spoon and dip it into that big bucket of JFG and eat it plain. (Not double dipping, just so you know.) It was filling and would get you through to suppah. 🙂

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Georgia Is Known For It’s Peanuts

Georgia produces the largest amount of Peanuts in the United States, with Sylvester, Georgia being the ‘Peanut Capital of the World.’

Peanuts grow best in the southern part of Georgia primarily in the Coastal Plains Region because of the sandy soil.

Virginia and North Carolina are also excellent producers of Peanuts here in America. Very tasty and good quality. We would always receive Peanuts from Gordon’s family who lived in Virginia every Christmas. It was something to look forward to.

Georgia Peanuts Are Harvested Every September and October

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The Jimmy Carter Family Peanut Roots

Probably our most famous Peanut Farmer in America was our former 39th. President, Jimmy Carter. Carter was President from 1977 – 1981. President Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia. He didn’t see his first white person, that wasn’t in his family, until he was 14 years old. He grew up in a ‘black town.’ There were many black towns in Georgia at that time.

When Carter was a boy of 6 he would walk a few miles every Saturday to sell his Boiled Peanuts. I can’t imagine children doing that in this day. It would be too dangerous.

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Peanuts, and Peanut Butter is my Past, my Present, and my Future. It is my Childhood. It is my History. My family Memories and Recipes.

At this writing I have 5 jars of Peanut Butter in the Kitchen Pantry. What with all of our Florida weather of storms and hurricane’s, what do you think we eat when the power goes out? Oh, we have various jars and canned goods of other foods, but Peanut Butter is always at arm’s length.

We hope that you will like our Nutty Jezebel.

This one is a favorite because it is home.

Julie and Gordon

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Our Ingredients:

I Wanted To Use Products From Georgia And The South Where Possible

Vidalia Onions From Vidalia, Georgia

5, Apple Jelly’s (about 1 lb. each)

1, Pineapple Preserves (Just because I had it leftover from a past Jezebel Sauce and it was expiring.)

2, Peach Preserves (About 1 lb. each)

1/2 – 1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used a combination of No Sugar Added Jiff, and 33% Less Sugar Simply Jiff

Dashes of Tabasco Sauce, To Taste

1 Cup Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey

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1/3 Cup Vidalia Onion Mustard

Sweet Honey Mustard (A Few Squirts, About 3 or 4)

8 oz. Jar Ground Horseradish, I used about 3/4 of it.

1 T. Sea Salt

Planter’s Peanut Oil, to Sautee

1 1/2 Vidalia Onions, Chopped and Sauteed in Peanut Oil

14.5 oz. Chow-Chow (About 3/4 of the Jar)

Planter’s Dry Roasted Peanuts, The Entire Container, About 14 oz., Or To Preference

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Mr. Peanut, Standing By

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Always Peanuts To Snack On…

…Because I’m NUTTY!

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PayDay was my favorite candy bar when I was young because of the Peanuts

When we lived in Dahlonega, Georgia I would ride my bike to the store and buy a PayDay on Saturday’s.

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My Nutty Jezebel, Literally

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Chocolate And Peanut Butter

You got your Chocolate in my Peanut Butter.

No, you’ve got your Peanut Butter in My Chocolate!

I wanted to add that there is NO Chocolate in this recipe,

I just wanted to do the peanut butter/chocolate thing from the 70’s. 🙂

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How We Eat Jezebel Sauce

Some Of Our Nutty Jezebel Recipe Suggestions:

First of all, all of my Jezebel’s are excellent dipping sauces.

We happen to love them on Egg Rolls, Spring Rolls, and Pot Stickers.

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Jezebel As A Glaze

We love to buy a small Ham and douse it in Jezebel, place into a 350F oven for about 25 minutes. Bring it out about every 8 minutes to brush the Jezebel over the Ham a few times during the cooking process. Eaten great just like this, or….

Fried and caramelized in a frying pan and eaten with Biscuits and Gravy.

Gordon Making Gravy With His Assistant Isabelle

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Gordon’s Delicious Gravy and Isabelle’s Breakfast

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THIS IS MY BREAKFAST! 🙂

Biscuits, Ham, Eggs, And Gravy

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My Julie Georgia Baked Beans

You are probably wondering why I have these here?

No, there is no Nutty Jezebel in them, I made them around the time the food above was made.

I was proud of the photos and of the beans, and I just couldn’t not place them here.

They are a Georgia staple, especially eaten with Ham.

I have my Baked Bean Recipe on many pages on my website, so why not give it just one more time? 🙂 And when I die I hope that people make it and think of me because out of everything I have ever made, this is what I’m proudest of. I can only give you the ingredients, the amounts are up to you.

Turn The Oven On 400F

Drained cans of Baked Beans, Chopped Onions, Chopped Green Bell Pepper, Brown Sugar, Ketchup, Yellow Mustard, Tabasco Sauce, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, and Bacon, crumbled and mixed in, and placed on top, about 5 minutes before the beans are done.

Depending on the size of the baking dish, bake anywhere from 25 minutes to 45 minutes.

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Belgium Waffles, Fried Chicken, and Nutty Jezebel

…and a COKE!

This is easy and probably one of the best things that Gordon and I have ever eaten in our lives!

I kid you not!

I had bought the Belgium Waffles from Sprouts. They came prepackaged and ready made. All you had to do was to heat them up in the toaster.

The Fried Chicken we bought from the grocery store, ready made in the lunch section.

Just place the Chicken onto the Waffle and then add my Nutty Jezebel

It doesn’t get more Southern Peanuty than this!

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As Always My First Purchase When Creating A New Jezebel,

..Are The Lids And The Jars!

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This Jezebel LOVES Nuts!

We Snack On NUTS All The Time!

Whether they be Peanuts, Walnuts, Cashews, Brazil, Pecans, Macadamia, etc….

Coated, Candy Coated, Plain, Dry Roasted, Salted, Boiled, Unsalted, Seasoned, etc….

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Making The Nutty Jezebel

In a very large pot, place the Apple Jelly, Pineapple Preserves, and the Peach Preserves.

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This Jezebel Is ‘To Taste’

You add ingredients, and then you taste, add some more, and then you taste…

I put the burner on a Medium-Low Heat to start.

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Next I Am Adding My Peanut Butters

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Mix Together

Now Add The Mustards

And The Tabasco Sauce, (Although I don’t have a photo of it being added.)

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Next I am aAding the Sea Salt

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Skrewball Peanut Butter Liquer

Even though the alcohol will burn off in this Jezebel, it will leave behind a lovely flavor added to the other ingredients that will enhance my Nutty Jezebel.

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I list in the ingredients above that we used about 3/4 of the jar of Horseradish, but we might have ended up using all of it.

As I said before, this is a taste as you go recipe.

I seem to recall that nearing the end I decided to add more of it.

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At this point I have set aside my Nutty Jezebel so that Gordon can work on his Vidalia Onions.

(Sadly, we only have about 3 burners that are working on our 5 burner stove top. Which is why we are doing the rotating cooking.)

Chopping The Onions

Gordon Ended Up Chopping About 1 1/2 of the Onions

In a saucepan Gordon added some Peanut Oil and is Sauteeing the Onions, softening them.

Now Adding Them To The Pot

Chow Chow, I Added About Half Of The Jar To The Pot

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It is at this point that I turned the pot up to a Medium-High Heat to a simmering boil.

I want the Jezebel to thicken up and become more of a sauce and not runny.

Now that the Jezebel is looking more like I like it, I am adding all of the nuts in this container.

Stir Together And Simmer Away Until Ready To Can The Jezebel

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The Canning Process

(Write Up By Gordon)

Julie was able to find some nice jars for this project.

We sterilized them in the dish washer so they would be ready for canning.

The nice color of the jars enhances the ingredients we will be placing inside.

Here I started to boil some water in a large pot with a wire basket to help remove the jars when the processing is done. The pot has to be deep enough to be able to submerge the jars when boiled.

Use a funnel and ladle to help with filling the jars with the jezebel. This way, you will have less to clean off the top of the jar. The top of the jar must be perfectly clean to ensure a proper seal with the rubber gasket on the lid.

You can see the lids and rings we used for this next step. They come in a variety of colors, so you can match the ingredients or the occasion. We substituted the lids that originally came with the jars, for something we liked better.

I placed the lids in a pot of almost boiling water to loosen the rubber gasket. You must do this in order to obtain a proper seal with the jar. Fill all the jars with the Jezebel using the funnel and ladle leaving about an inch of headspace. This headspace is needed, as during the boiling process, the air that will escape will create a vacuum sealing the lid to the jar.

Wipe the top of the jar clean with a wet paper towel to remove and jezebel, which might have spilled onto the top of the jar. Then, use the magnetic stick sold with most canning supplies to remove it from the almost boiling water. Place the lid carefully on top of the clean jar as seen in the picture. This also keeps everything sterile.

Now, place a ring on the jar and tighten it slightly. If you tighten it too much, the air won’t escape from the jar creating a seal. If you don’t tighten it enough, water will flow into your Jezebel. I know, this part of the canning process can be slightly intimidating, but just go with what you believe is barely tight. You can always do a test run.

In this picture you can see the before and after of the process.

The jars with the yellow lid are being used a gifts which will be eaten quickly and there is no need for them to be canned.

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The water is about to boil, which is a good time to place in the jars.

Use the jar tool which also comes in a canning tool kit to place the jars into the boiling water. I removed the wire cage as the jars were too tall to use it. You must submerge the jars with the boiling water. I also keep more boiling water on hand to help fill the pot if needed. Boil the jars in the water for 15 minutes. During the start of this process, you should see air escape from under the lid. If not, you may have tightened the jars too tight.

After 15 minutes of boiling, remove the jars and place them on a mat or towel for cooling.

You should hear the lids pop as the vacuum under the lid is being sucked down. When this happens, you know the canning process worked. If the lid didn’t seal, you need to redo the prior process. This could mean there was a issue with the seal, or there might not have been enough head space. You also need to remove the seal and use another one. To correct the unsealed jar, I usually remove a bit of the ingredients, and ensure the top of the jar is very clean. Place a new lid on top of the jar that has been almost boiled to loosen up the rubber gasket, place the ring on top and tighten just so, then boil the jar again under water for 15 minutes.

Even as long as I have been canning jars, I still at times have jars that don’t seal. I hope this makes you want to can your own Jezebel as they make great gifts and are very useful in a number of recipes as a drink additive, marinade, topping of cheese and many other ways.

Enjoy!

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Jezebel Recipes And Suggestions Start Here

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A Nutty Jezebel Ham Breakfast