Canned Hot Peppers

[MitchellR]

This is a jar of canned or pickled jalapeno peppers. They are very easy to fix. All you do mix together half vinegar and half water and boil. Mix in a teaspoon of salt and pour into a jar full of peppers. Be sure to run some hot water into the jar and pour it out first so that the glass doesn't crack. Then pour the hot mixture into the jar over the peppers and put the lid on tight. After you open the jar keep refrigerated. I have found that like wine these peppers seem to imrove over time as they are aged. But I usually have eaten or given away most within a year or two.

 

[milbrosa]

Congratulations. Those look good. However, I'm not sure that your process is really safe if you aren't sterilizing your jars and using a boiling water bath after filling them.

Here is my process:

I sterilize pint sized canning jars first in boiling water for 10 minutes. I wash my peppers, sort out any bad ones, and put a slit in each pepper with a knife. I boil the vinegar, water, and salt mixture (half vinegar, half water, 1 teaspoon pickling salt per cup of brine). I prefer cider vinegar over white vinegar.

I take the hot jars out of the water bath, and add a clove of garlic, a few black peppercorns, a couple allspice berries, and a half a bay leaf to each jar, then stuff each pint jar full of peppers. Then I pour in the hot brine, put the lids and bands on, then put the jars back in the boiling water for 10 minutes.

After removing the jars from the boiling water bath, they vacuum seal themselves in 5 to 30 minutes time.

I love pickled peppers. I have also pickled peppers using the natural lactobacillus fermentation process, like is commonly used for dill pickles or sauerkraut. They have to be kept refrigerated after fermentation is complete. The peppers remain really crisp, but they can get excessively sharp tasting from the lactic acid if you leave them too long.

 

[LanMan]

I love me some pickeled hot my self. Here are a couple I did.

 

[MitchellR]

Wow, Lanman that looks like a big variety. You must have a garden.

Milbrosa, I guess you use the traditional way of boiling the jars, etc. Several years back I met a guy who was a big gardener and he taught me how he did it, so I've done it like that & have never had a problem. I think they call it a wash or something like that. I believe the combination of vinegar and salt and a tight lid will keep the peppers good, at least I've had no problems and over the years I canned a lot ot them.

 

[milbrosa]

Mitchell, I think lactic acid fermentation is probably the oldest and most natural way of pickling. It relies on the ubiquitous presence of lactobacillus that is found naturally on vegetables. Salt, water, and a very small amount of vinegar (much less than the modern pickling standard of 50% vinegar) and seasonings are all that's needed.

Many people believe that naturally fermented vegetables are the best tasting and are healthier for you. The former is a matter of taste, and I'm not qualified to weigh in on the latter. I do like the flavor and texture of naturally fermented pickles and other peppers, but they aren't the most convenient when canning large quantities because they require refrigeration after the proper level of fermentation is reached in order to arrest the fermentation.

The boiling water bath method that I described and that I use is what all the county extension offices and universities and food preservation experts recommend to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum, which produces the toxins that cause botulism. It's not a natural fermentation process. It relies on high acidity (from the vinegar) and heat sterilization and vacuum sealing of jars to produce a shelf-stable product. I would call this a modern method, not a traditional method.

From a process perspective, your method seems like a cross between a traditional method and the modern method. But it's probably not a cross in terms of effect, because you are not going to get the protective lactic acid fermentation with all that vinegar present.

I'm not qualified to judge the safety of your method, but I believe that modern food preservation experts do not recommend it.

 

[LanMan]

My neighbor and I share a garden. Next year I will be adding about 10 variates of Super Hot peppers::

 

[Runningwolf]

Lanman those peppers look really good! Nice job!

 

[LanMan]

Thanks all! If you like pickled peppers then you need to try this
Picklese
Pikliz - Vinaigre Piquant

by Mirta Yurnet-Thomas

Pikliz, or pickled scotch bonnet peppers, is used to give flavor to many dishes.
It is also placed on the table at mealtime so that you can sprinkle as much as you want over your food. Every Haitian kitchen has pikliz in the cupboard or refrigerator.

Yield: Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

6 Scotch bonnet peppers
2 cups thinly sliced or shredded cabbage
½ cup thinly sliced or shredded carrots
¼ cup thinly sliced or shredded onion
¼ cup green peas (frozen)
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
8 to 10 peppercorns (optional)
3 cups vinegar
Method:
Snip off the stem of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds.
Place hot peppers, cabbage, carrots, onion, green peas, cloves, salt, and peppercorns in a quart-size jar, then add the vinegar.
Close jar tightly and let sit at least 24-48 hours before using. Once you commence using it, store in the refrigerator.
It lasts for months.

Kind of like a hot vinegar cole slaw. Next time I will put it in the food processer and give it the concistency of relish

 

[milbrosa]

That recipe looks great, LanMan. Thank you for that. I going to make some.

I'd like to know what peppers you are going to plant, and where you are sourcing your seeds from.

This past year I grew Bih Jolokia, Red Sevina, Dorset Naga, Chocolate Habanero (Congo Black), and Yellow 7 Pod. I got all my seeds from The Hippy Seed Company, http://www.thehippyseedcompany.com in Australia. One thing, my germination rate was low, about 50%. You might want to take that into account when ordering.

The Bih Jolokia produced the best, followed by the Chocolate Hab, then the Yellow 7 Pod. None of them produced all that well though in the horrible drought we had here in Texas this past year.

The Bih Jolokia is shockingly hot. It is for sure the hottest pepper I've ever eaten. It's a bit too hot to eat by itself, IMO, but it is useful for cooking or for a really hot fresh salsa.

The Yellow 7 Pod was much milder, but still refreshingly hot and it has an incredible pervasive habanero aroma and flavor. It was my favorite just based on flavor. It produces nice big pods, mostly golf ball size and some larger. The Red Savina and Dorset Naga did not produce well, but the few peppers I got were hot and tasty. The Chocolate Habs were also very good.

This season I won't have much planting room. I will probably only grow the Yellow 7 Pod.

 

[LanMan]

I am a member on The Hot Pepper, another great forum that I am part of
Great friendly people and lots of free seeds offers

 

[almargita]

i am positive that my method for canning peppers & certain pickles would not be approved by the "canning police"!! Ii like a pepper or pickle that has the Valasic crunch, mine are always crunchy. they do not receive the typical 5-10 min hot water bath as that also cooks them & makes them mushy. After placing all the ingredients into the jars, I pour the brine mixture then seal & immediately place upside down in the fridge for about 1 hour, then into the freezer for about 15-20 min. This stops them from cooking & the lids always seal. I only make now what will be used for the upcoming year as all my kids are married & gone..... When home, we went thru 3-4 jars a week, only make about 40-50 per year now....... Been making them this way for over 40 years & still kicking! I do use the hot water bath on stuff that I don't care about the crunch, just not my pickles & peppers......

Al

 

[Sirs]

i am positive that my method for canning peppers & certain pickles would not be approved by the "canning police"!! Ii like a pepper or pickle that has the Valasic crunch, mine are always crunchy. they do not receive the typical 5-10 min hot water bath as that also cooks them & makes them mushy. After placing all the ingredients into the jars, I pour the brine mixture then seal & immediately place upside down in the fridge for about 1 hour, then into the freezer for about 15-20 min. This stops them from cooking & the lids always seal. I only make now what will be used for the upcoming year as all my kids are married & gone..... When home, we went thru 3-4 jars a week, only make about 40-50 per year now....... Been making them this way for over 40 years & still kicking! I do use the hot water bath on stuff that I don't care about the crunch, just not my pickles & peppers......

Al

I've made pickles and peppers also greenbeans,okra that way for years. Like you I've never had a problem in fact the longer they get to hang around the better lol. I really love to make a hot pepper sauce/relish where I grind all my peppers in a processor till they're a really fine consistency then I'll add a mixture of boiling vinegar,salt and a bit of sugar about 1/4 of the total mixture to the peppers it normally is not thin a bit thicker than apple sauce it is awesome with alot of stuff

 

[MitchellR]

I caught a little of Dr. Oz today & he said something like a healthy snack is hot peppers and dark chocolate. Has anyone out there tried this? I've scheduled it for some point in the future, but if anyone else has tried this I would like to know your opinion of this combination.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Hot peppers... Yum....:<

 

[MitchellR]

Most of my hot peppers wind up in chili & I'll eat one or two with a bowl of chili.

Here's a link to '10 Reasons Why Chili is Good For You.':

http://www.famouschilirecipes.com/10reasonstoeatchili.html

 

[almargita]

I use a lot of them to make my Bread & Butter & Dill pickles spicey hot. My favorite are the Crunchy Sweet Hots, hot hungarian peppers sliced in rings. I just eat them from the jar or use on sandwiches or hot dogs. Think I will try a hot relish this year also. I did buy some assorted hot mustards from a display I saw at our butcher store. Not sure if I can attempt to duplicate them but may give them a try also or just add mustard to a hot relish mix. Yum Yum!!

Al