It is called 'cool cayenne' only because it is processed and in capsule form so it won't irritate your digestive tract. The cayennes used are still hot peppers, as the 'healthy part' is the capsaicin(what makes the peppers hot). If you want peppers without so much heat for eating, visit the hot pepper forum and read through(or do a search for)the threads about milder chiles. There is a very wide variety. If you want peppers for health reasons, you could try growing mild to medium hot peppers and get your digestive tract used to them a little at a time, working up to cayennes. But all peppers are good for you(IMO). Hope this helps.

Not at all Steve. The plant_lady was wanting to can in oil, big difference from using vinegar. Now that you mention it though, if you're not going to Pressure Can or Boiling Water Bath, you should at least sterilize your jars by bringing them to 185 degrees before packing, not just "keeping them hot." Personally though, I agree with the latest NCHFP guidelines that all should either be PC or BWB, depending on the acid levels of the approved recipe. With your method you have no idea if the PH is at safe levels of 3.8 or below, particularly if you pack the jars tight and use relatively little vinegar. Your peppers also needs to remain below 3.8 PH throughout it's lifetime to remain safe. I'm reminded of the ol' boy that just shakes out a bit of vinegar to flavor his BBQ, leaving the peppers behind. I learned many many years ago that you're supposed to refill the bottle with vinegar, otherwise the peppers will start to go bad. Granted, you may not do that with your peppers, but some do and when they do the PH level rises to dangerous levels as the amount of vinegar to pepper ratio declines. Anyway, to get back to the main point - If y'all would just take the extra step of running your peppers through a BWB using an approved recipe that insures you have the correct ratio of peppers/onions/*dried* spices/whatever to vinegar, it will not only sterilize the jars, vacuum seal the lids, but ensure the food will be absolutely safe a year from now. Just bringing peppers and an unknown amount of vinegar to a boil and packing into hot jars is very marginal. Why take a chance? Surely your friends and family are worth the best you can provide. PS I'm not picking on you Steve. I've seen several threads like this brought up recently and felt something needed to be said. ;)

Lukki, I'm sure bugs will still get inside our home, but it should slow them down from getting in through the screened porch when the door is open since it covers up the spaces between the deck boards. Not many were getting in, but whenever the door was open at night, we'd notice more bugs inside the house. Yep, I was in Cali visiting our daughter and her family. We hadn't seen them in over a year and our darling granddaughter was a blast. She's so funny. I have traveled more in the last three years than I had in the whole thirty plus years of my marriage before hubby started to travel for a living. Though I enjoy it, it's also very tiring. I'm just starting to feel like I have myself again. Cyn, that's not a bad idea. I might have to do that as we install our baseboard throughout the house.

Winging it here, I haven't made the ketchup, we use it so infrequently. I first looked in the latest Ball edition (its handiest, just updated to it) and there is no cayenne in that ketchup so it wasn't helpful. I did find a Ball recipe online using tomato puree that calls for 1/4 tsp cayenne and that may be the one you have. Dried spices, dried herbs, are fine to play with within reason but fresh herbs are not. If you wanted to increase the cayenne from 1/4 tsp I think you'd be OK....please don't tell me though you were considered something like 1/4 Cup ;) & Please keep in mind too that your shelf stored product may not taste the same as it does when you are making and sampling it - flavors do change (some may intensify, others could become bitter) during storage time. I can't address the cayenne specifically in this recipe but if your family likes a little more kick to their ketchup, you should be OK with more but you may want to stay conservative until you've opened a jar stored several weeks. (keep notes for future ketchup)