Today’s entry is about my first experiment with both canning and pickling. Maybe this is not a big deal for some, but I don’t cook much. My wife does 99% of the cooking at our house. She likes it and I like that she likes it. With my interest in gardening and storing what we grow however, I will need to learn food preservation skills.
Due to our mild winter and being in zone 9, we had peppers and herbs throughout the winter months. I have been freezing the peppers but wanted to try something new. So I went out to the foundation garden, picked some jalapenos and mixed herbs, and went to the internet to see how to pickle peppers.
So I found some basic recipes and saw that water bath canning would be required to finished the project. “Well, how do you do that?” I wondered. So after another half hour on the web, I ran to the grocery store to get pickling salt and vinegar. We happened to have jars and new lids already.
So the recipe went like this…
- 1 cup white or cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon canning salt
- bay leaves
Wash peppers. and slice 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Pack loosely in a jar with 1 bay leaf in each jar. (I didn’t use bay leaves, I used fern dill, cilantro, Greek basil, and oregano.)
Heat ingredients to a boil and pour over peppers in jar.
Place jar lid after wiping jar rim clean; tighten band.
Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Do not forget the oil. The oil is the secret. For a clear liquid, use white vinegar; for the best flavor, use cider vinegar.
I followed these instructions closely up until the bay leaf part. I substituted in oregano, dill and basil. I loved the “POP” sound when the jars were removed from the water.
These will be used in sandwiches and salads.
If anyone has input as to a better recipe for pickled peppers, please write it or put a link for it in the comments. I had fun doing this project and am confident that I’ll be able to water bath can some of our tomatoes towards the end of summer.
Thanks and God Bless.
This post is linked to Today’s Creative Blog and Too Much Time
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