Backyard Bounty

Growing up in Ohio we always had pickled peppers on hand. One of my earliest canning memories is Mom canning peppers; of course, one of the reasons it’s burned into my mind is from the pain on my lips. The Hungarian medium-hot block peppers can be a bit high on the heat scale. Mom told me not to touch them when she was working with them, but I did. Of course, I touched my mouth, and you can imagine the pain for a 4 year old. I know better than to do that ever, ever again. My stepmom also canned a bunch since Dad loved them. Instead of pickles, we snacked on peppers.

The medium-hots are unique. The only place I can get the seed is from the friend who works the farm back in Ohio. He sent me a good supply, and I’m working on growing out my own out here in an effort to develop a strain that will thrive in our cooler temps. This year was a fairly successful season despite a cold and blustery start to the season. I planted the 50+ plants at my westside community garden plot because it has better soil and a more ample water supply. They’re not as large as I’d like to see them, but I am happy to finally have enough to can.

Yesterday Sam and I went to turn on the water at the garden, plus I wanted to pick what tomatoes were ripe in order to whip up a batch of sauce today. When I took a close look at the peppers I decided they needed to come off the plants. We ended up with nearly a half-bushel! I realized the tomatoes would have to be an afternoon project because I needed to take care of my precious peppers first.

This morning after making the boys their breakfast of eggs (from our chickens), toast (from homemade bread) and blueberry jam (from a lovely homeschool mom), I donned the gloves and got to work. Last year I made the mistake of not wearing gloves because I didn’t think they were very hot – after a half hour my hands burned so badly I could barely move them. (But I still knew better than to touch my face!) With gloves it went smoothly and pain free.

To make 6 quarts of pickled peppers you’ll need:

 

6 cups white vinegar

12 cups water

1 cup salt

1/8 cup sugar

Roughly 7 lbs. of peppers per 6 quarts

1 tsp. pickling spice per jar

1 clove of garlic per jar

1/4 tsp. Pickle Crisp (calcium chloride for crispness) per jar. Before the Pickle Crisp we used have to soak and rinse the peppers in alum to give them that crunch. I’ve made them without anything to preserve crispness, and they’re not as good.

~ Bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil. Meanwhile, boil the lids and heat up the water bath canner. The jars should be clean and scalded. I keep mine hot in the oven set at 350 degrees.

~ Place the clove of garlic and a tsp. of pickling spice in a hot jar. Pack the halved peppers in the jar as tight as possible. I used a butter knife to make room to try to squeeze in more to keep them in place. They will shrink when processed.

~ Add the Pickle Crisp, and ladle in the hot brine giving them an inch of headspace. Wipe the rim, screw on the hot lid and place in the water bath canner.

~ I process our quarts for 20 minutes because we’re just a smidge above 3000-ft so I need to add 10 minutes to the standard processing time. Once the time is up, I remove the lid of the canner, allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove the jars. It’s important to unload the canner somewhere that the jars to set unbothered for 24 hours. Tomorrow I’ll print out labels and figure out where the devil I’m going to store them. We seriously lack pantry space so I have to be pretty creative anymore.

Hopefully we’ll have enough for another 6 quart batch, but I’m delighted to have 9 quarts ready for the winter!

 

 

Tags: canning, heirloom vegetables, Hungarian medium hot block peppers, pickled peppers