All sorts of spicy goodness await
This year was a difficult one for peppers. Of course that is all my fault. Normally this year would have been perfect for all my peppers. I did have a phenomenal jalapeno crop. I had enough success with the late cayenne plants to dry a few peppers, but I did not have enough to freeze for the winter. Normally, I freeze enough to last well into the next pepper season. Therefore I decided to pickle a large amount of jalapenos to supplement the cayenne. Since I planned to use them for cooking the recipe is very simple. Below I will also talk about the other two ways to preserve hot peppers as well.
Pickling
Most of the time folks like to add different flavors and spices to any type of pickled vegetable to create a tasty snack. This recipe is far simpler due to the fact I wanted to be able to cook with the finished product. That does not mean they don’t make excellent snacks or cocktail garnishes as well. To pack these I used my basic canning method and then steamed the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes to finish the pickles. I did not bother adding pickle crisp because these were for the pantry, but if they are to be eaten primarily as a snack I would suggest adding one teaspoon per jar to keep them from getting soggy. Or follow my canning method exactly and skip the steam bath after. Remember that the fresher the pepper the better the pickle.
- 2 lbs jalapenos (about 20-25 medium sized)
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 4 cups water
- 4 tbsp kosher sea salt or pickling salt
Wash and dry peppers. Discard any that are bad or bruised. Cut 4 to 6 long slits lengthwise in each. This will keep the peppers from exploding once the hot brine is added. Combine brine ingredients and bring to a boil. Meanwhile sterilize 4-5 12-ounce canning jars. Pack jalapenos into jars leaving at least 1/4″ space at top. Fill with hot brine and seal. Steam in boiling water for 10 minutes then set out to cool. Any jars that do not seal, place in the refrigerator to use first. Wait at least two weeks before eating any.
Drying
So shriveled up I think they need a blanket
Drying is the best way to preserve the most amount of heat in a pepper, but it can be tricky. When it comes to drying cayenne peppers I have great success just placing them on a rack in a dry spot out of direct sunlight and waiting about a month. Other larger peppers require time in an oven or dehydrator to keep them from molding. I have yet to dry a jalapeno out successfully but have had success with pablanos in an oven on really low heat (140 degrees) with the door slightly ajar for quite a few hours. After the peppers dry I then grind some into powder while leaving others whole to reconstitute in water when cooking.
Freezing
This is the best way to quickly preserve hot peppers for cooking. They will be too mushy to use in pico or chopped up fresh but alas we cannot all live in California where vegetables grow fresh all year round. The trick to freezing peppers is to boil them for about 1 minute then allow them to cool before freezing. The quick boil causes the pepper to collapse and freeze faster and actually locks in more of the spice. When you are ready to cook just pull a few out of the freezer ( I store them in a one-gallon ziplock bag which holds around 60-80) and chop them up. The freezing process does lose some heat so you may need to double the amount of peppers used in any given recipe.
I would love to see a shot of your pantry with all this canned goodness. You guys will be eating well this winter! You are a canning machine. Far braver than I, that’s for certain.
Yes! Please share photos of the inside of your pantry!
We like to live vicariously and you must feed our voyeuristic tendencies. Nothing too risque, though. This is a G-Rated blog, right? :D
Heavens what do you think we keep in there?
Hehe our shriveled chillis are still sitting on the windowsill! Thankfully it’s really dry where we are so we’ve just kind of left them there and I pick one up when I want it. I’m considering pickling some but they’re all red at the moment (Thai chillis).
Your kitchen is HOT. literally!
I wish I had a garden sometimes, because I could make a variety of fresh things. and your peppers look great. Now I’ve learned hot to freeze peppers properly :)
Seconding Kristy’s request! Gief pantry photos! (Almost wrote “gief panty photos”, lol). Really want to get into this sort of thing once I have my own yard one day.
My commenters are randy today. Did you see what Nancy wrote. My, my!
ha-ha! we are all voyeurs at heart. Love the title: pepper preservation.
Wonderful. I love them. Thank you dear Rufus, with my love, nia
Great post. :-) Mandu
Seems like our kitchens are working in the same way at the moment – I have peppers drying and freezing too with cans in the “despensa” (pantry!). Hope they all taste wonderful… :)
great, what a brilliant way to store your produce, I’ve never tried this but it looks fairly easy so I might give it a go. I am not sure what the ‘crisp’ product is, but it doesn’t sound like we would need it for this anyway. Enjoy your peppers all winter.
Here’s a link to what it is, should have details. This is the first year I used it. http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Pickle-Crisp-5-5-oz/dp/B003IOEWL8
I have been pickling sweet peepers for a long time, but this year I started to do the same with hot peppers. While I add many aromatic spices to the sweet ones, I noticed the hot peppers don’t need very aromatic seasonings (either it tastes weird or they absorb the flavours anyway) and I have also noticed they tend to mellow throughout the months. Are your peppers less hot after several months too?
I have never seen “pickle crisp”, it sounds very mysterious… I will have to check if it exists in Europe too.
It sounds silly, but only thanks to your post I have just realised I have to freeze the hot peppers I get from my very kind Hungarian friend, when she comes back from her home country… I use them cooked most of the time anyway. Thanks for the idea and for the boiling tip!
Ask me again in several months. This is the first time I’ve canned them.
Thanks, Greg! I thought you have been doing it for years! (I will remember to ask you, I am very curious).
Hint: You’ll get less ‘float’ on your pickles if you switch to regular-mouth jars. The ‘shoulders’ help hold them under the brine.
(I just learned this myself, and thought I’d pass it along…)
Enjoy your pepper harvest, for as long as you “can”!
Thanks, we got a boatload of free canning jars, but they only hold so much! I’ll remember that for next year.
Wow! This is amazing. I got some tiny little peppers today from a friend’s garden… was pondering about what I should do with them all! Thanks for this post, perfect timing! :)
I love the “float”…it creates a beautiful, ethereal looks to the canned jalapenos…great idea to pickle those little hot babies!
They look so gorgeous in those jars. Bet they’d be delicious.
I made some hot pepper sauce similar to this just last week.. it was now or never because they needed a pickin! This looks amazing though and I will take 3 jars please:)
I learn so much from you two!! You’re a real farm boy there Greg with all this gardening and preserving!! I’ll go for the freezing method (i.e., easy) but I’m soo impressed as always with all you do! p.s. love, love, love the blanket caption!!
We never have many peppers – perhaps we need a lesson from you! Great post! I love the ‘how to’s
Thanks!
Great instructional post! Very informative. I’m bummed I didn’t pickle anything myself this summer. Maybe you’ve inspired me!
Pickled pink eggs!
This is uncharted territory for me! Thanks for all of the great info…maybe someday l’ll try pickling something!
Great how-to post. I don’t grow peppers and any that Lucy eats have to be as fresh as possible so I currently haven’t a need for preserving them. Still, the idea of pickling peppers interests me and when I decide to give it a try, I know where to come for the needed info. Thanks.
HI Greg, I planted one jalapeno plant this year and it yielded just enough for the summer (I have one left, I’m kinda saving it for something special!). Next year, I will plant more and come back to this post. I am intrigued by the pickled peppers, very tasty sounding and looking!
You’re on, i have piles of peppers out there just waiting for me to pick a pack of pickled peppers!! or something! c
I’ve never tried pickling them and I have loads as you know. Maybe I’ll try with the scotch bonnets as I have no more room in the freezer! Btw I freeze mine without boiling and they are perfect, I chop them semi frozen (semi freddo?) and they don’t go soggy. I’m thinking baout a chilli semifreddo now, I need to get out more!!
I’ll have to try that technique!
I’m cracking up at the comments above. Risque pantry? Never heard of one before, but ya never know! I’m sure there’s lots of roosters in there or something. These peppers are going to be delicious. Great tips for pickling, drying AND freezing!
If we do show our cabinets it will be so anticlimactic. Look at all those canned tomatoes!
Your basic canning method is very similar to mine.
These look great!
I have never done this! This looks awesome!! I going to get some peppers!!!!
Hey, Rufus! I’m back, and if not kicking, at least twitching feebly. I’ll be blogging again, from tomorrow. The worst of it all, though, is that I have too, too much of everyone else’s stuff to catch up on!
With regard to peppers – or just ‘chillies’ as we call them in Australia – I simply dice mine up and stuff them in a jar, and cover them with olive oil. As long as there’s enough oil to cover them, mould isn’t usually a problem – and it’s a pretty daring mould that’ll try and grow on them, anyway.
I also find it great to use just a spoonful of the chilli-infused oil when I’m frying something, to give it a nice, subtle touch of heat.
Thanks for the birthday text, too, btw!
Great idea. I’ll have to try that too. Good to see you back, hope things have finally settled down over there.
I’ve got all my major Uni assignments out of the way, there’s just the big, bad exam period to face, later. I’m typing this from a hospital bed (!) but I’ll be home this afternoon, and determined to resume blogging.
What a great informative post. We love peppers, 3/4 of my garden was peppers but unfortunatley my crop this year didn’t yeild many. I love roasted peppers, I freeze the extra’s for future use. My dad dries pepper, omg the other day half of his garage was filled with hanging peppers! I have to take a picture of it….
Mmm, pickled peppers! These are one of my faves!!!
That was really useful information. Thank you for sharing!
My green peppers were horrible this year. My girls love pickled peppers.
Nice blog, and I have a recipe for just plain jalapenos… been wanting one! You are full of skill in the kitchen….RaeDi
I love the caption on your drying photo; you two crack me up. :)
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