Our garden is doing so well this year. We are actually getting fruit and vegetables! In abundance at times. Right now, we are over run by tomatoes and chilies. The only difference is that we have 2 tomato plants, but we have 8 chili plants! 8! There is no way I can eat that many chilies or even want to. That is a lot of spice! What is a girl supposed to do?…..Pickle them!!!!
I have never pickled anything in my life before. I was a little scared of trying it, but it worked out in the end. And it was a lot easier than I thought too; probably since I didn’t go through the process of sanitizing/sealing the jars. So if you plan to use them within a couple of months, I would suggestpickling your peppers.
What is required for pickling? Water, vinegar, sugar, salt, and peppers. Pretty simple. I was actually surprised at the ratio of sugar to salt. For some reason, I always thought you would need more salt than sugar, but it is the other way around. Just boil everything but the peppers together, then pour over the peppers and leave them to pickle overnight. And tada! Pickled peppers!
The whole time I was making these, I thought of that old rhyme. “Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers.”
Lessons Learned:
- Warn people in the cooking area that you will be boiling vinegar. Its not the most pleasant smell in the world.
- Pack your jars with the peppers as much as possible. After I poured in the liquid and the peppers floated to the top, there was a lot of empty space at the bottom that I didn’t know was there.
- Stir the sugar into the liquid until it dissolves. You don’t want burnt sugar at the bottom of your pan.
- Wear gloves when handling and cutting peppers!!!
- 5-6 cups peppers of choice, sliced
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3½ cups white vinegar
- 1½ cups water
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 half pints mason jars with lids and rings
- Evenly distribute the sliced peppers among the mason jars.
- In a large pan, combine all other ingredients and put over medium-high heat. While stirring, heat liquid until sugar dissolves and comes to a boil.
- Pour the hot liquid into each of the mason jars leaving about a ¼" space from the top. Cover the mason jars with their lids and ring, then put them into the refrigerator. Let them sit at least overnight before eating.
- These will last at least a month in the fridge, if not more.
(adapted from The Roasted Root)
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