PICKLING PEPPERS Is there anyway to "preserve" fresh jalepenos without going through the actual canning process? I was wondering how long they would last if you put them in some type of vinegar mixture and kept them in the refrigerator. How about freezing them? Would that work? This is my first time growing peppers and I know I'll dry some and probably make some salsa, but besides that I'm at a loss as to what to do with them. Thanks in advance! Here's a pickling method from Andrews Peppers that might work for you: 1. Wash the fruit 2. Prick with a toothpick or fork 3. Soak in salt water for 24 hours. Use 1 part dairy or pickling salt (not table salt!) to 15 parts water. 4. Remove, rinse in fresh water and place in a mesh bag. 5. Place the bag in boiling water, and boil for 3 minutes. 6. Remove, place in cold water and rinse. Drain. 7. Saute onion slices in olive oil, add garlic cloves and bay leaves. 8. Fill hot, sterile glass jars (boil them for 5 minutes or longer) with the pods, onion and spices. Add the oil used to saute the onions. Fill jars with boiling white vinegar. 9. Seal and let cure for 3 weeks. I'd keep these in the fridge unless you want to process them in boiling water. Otherwise use them within a month or so. (here's some amounts I found later in the book -- makes 6 pints) 1 1/2-2 lb jalapenos 1 1/2 lb pickling salt (in 1 gallon of water) 3/4 c olive oil 2 medium onions 12 cloves garlic, peeled 1-2 bay leaves 3 tsp pickling spice 3 cups white vinegar Michael Bowers -- mikeb@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu _________________________________________________________________ Last year I put whole jalapenos in clean glass jars with 100% vinegar. You don't need canning jars; empty pickle, etc. jars work fine. Store them in the refrigerator. It's important to use the strongest vinegar you can get, and not dilute with water or anything else, because of the danger of botulism. High-acid or heat processing (i.e., canning) prevents botulism. This information came from my county cooperative extension agent. You can add other ingredients like garlic, celery, onion, etc. They are very tasty especially with onion, garlic, springs of fresh herbs, etc. but are rather vinegary. We are still eating from last year's crop preserved like this. Freezing whole ones works very well, as others have said. I thought this year for convenience I'd chop up some before I freeze them. Kathy Corcoran kcorcora@unomaha.edu _________________________________________________________________ Pickling as come up in connection with recent messages on preserving jalapenos. I am using the following recipe provided by a Lebanese-American friend that originally came from his mother: For 1 cup: 200 ml water 50 ml red wine vinegar @ 6-7% acidity 25 g (i.e., 1 tbs spoon) salt The mixture is boiled for about two minutes. When cool the solution can be added to peppers in jars, sealed, then refrigerated. Various kinds of peppers have kept fairly well in the 'fridge for more than a year with this recipe, but the solution is very salty and there is loss of flavour over that period. I would be pleased to learn of other pickling recipes that are better at maintaining the flavour. Jim, Rome, Italy _________________________________________________________________ "I've done alot of other pickling before, but I was wondering if there are special recipes for pickling jalapenos. Could I just go with the standard pickling protocol?" I too have done a good deal of pickling, but what I would really like to know is how do you keep the jalapenos crispy? Is alum the secret? Whenever I tasted homemade pickled peppers (mine or others), they are always soft, not crisp like ones that are commercially made....so, is alum the secret or what? Any recipes or secrets would be much appreciated. There was a bunch of discussion about this in DIGEST #25, and some carried on in #'s 27, 28 and 29 Basically you just follow your normal pickle recipe. Important things to remember: poke a small hole or cut a couple small slits in whole peppers before starting, don't use iodized salt, use soft or distilled water if your water is hard. Here's a basic pickle recipe for peppers: (from Sunset's Home Canning book) 6 lb peppers (if you use large peppers, cut into 1" wide strips.) 4 C 5% white vinegar 4 C water (soft or distilled) 1 tsp canning salt or non-iodized table salt. Mix vinegar, water and salt in a large stainless or enamel pot, bring to boil, add peppers, return to a boil then remove from heat. Pack peppers into jars, leave 1/2" headspace, cover with hot vinegar solution (leave headspace). Screw on caps. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes or let stand 12-24 hours then refrigerate. Processed peppers last 1 year, unprocessed up to 1 month refrigerated. Makes about 7 pints. Mike -- mikeb@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu _________________________________________________________________ HUNGARIAN HOT WAX CHILES IN ST. LOUIS dlm@wuerl.WUstl.EDU (David Melson)asked some Hot Wax Pepper Questions in the Chile-Heads Digest #68 that were pretty well answered by Kim Fisher. I can only add some personal experience from growing them in St. Louis as well. "Yellow waxy hungarian" or "Hot banana peppers" are well-suited to St. Louis' heat and humidity and produce large numbers of peppers from shortly after setout until frost (early June to late October). Neither drought nor flood nor cool snap nor high heat seems to retard fruit set and development. I think your harvesting at 2 inches is a bit premature. They can easily go to 6 inches before beginning to ripen and turn a beautiful orange. I agree that you should do something with them before that, though. When they are 2 inches or so, they have a slight green cast that fades to a pure yellow as they mature. At this point they are at their best. They pickle marvellously. I cut my "pepper teeth" on this variety when I began working. Whether they are "Hungarian" or not, I do not know, but I know of at least one Hungarian who loved them. He was a fellow worker who had left Hungary in '56 who grew them, pickled them and brought them for his lunch by the quart jar. One year he claimed to have put up 90 quarts and was in a panic in April since he was nearly out of them! (We helped a bit, but he ate them with everything!) His recipe was to put one tablespoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, one pint of vinegar (5%) and pint of water in a pan per quart jar planned and bring this to a boil. Meanwhile, he cut the tops off the peppers as well as a bit off the tip so they could fill with the liquid (or sliced them in half lengthwise), packed them into a hot quart jar, poured the boiling brine over and quickly closed with a standard canning lid. All going well, the jar would seal as it cooled. (If it did not it went to the 'fridge for immediate consumption!) He sometimes added "a little dill, or whatever" but only seldom. If eaten within a year, they remain crisp, but will get mushy after about 18 months. Great in a sandwich! George Nelson -- 70431.3065@compuserve.com _________________________________________________________________ PICKLING PEPPERONCINI? Anyone out there have a recipe for pickling pepperoncini? I love them and planted them in my garden and although they are great fresh, those canned ones are heaven, and I have not been able to find a recipe - and I fear that frost is soon to be here :-( Here is a recipe from a great(!) book by Sue Dremann called "Peppers: Pickled, Sauces, and Salsas". I have not tried this particular recipe (it looks rather basic), however, I've only had good success from this book so far. I will not go into pickling basics or good prctices. Here is the recipe: 16-20 green Pepperoncini peppers 2.5 cups white vinegar 1 teaspoon salt Heat the vinegar and salt in a saucepan. Put the Pepperoncinis in a sterilized quart jar and pour the hot vinegar over them to within 1/2 inch of the top. Seal, process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. I would also add that adding perhaps a 1/4 teaspoon of mexican oregano (or herb of your choice) may add some extra favor to your final product. ronz495423@aol.com (RonZ495423) _________________________________________________________________ George Nelson writes: > Mike (m5@vail.tivoli.com (Mike McNally))wrote that one is not > really canning if "you just shut the stuff into jars and seal > (but not vaccuum seal), then there's air in there" it does not > pose a botulism danger since C. botulinum is anaerobic. Not so! Hmm... Maybe that's why I seem to have fewer and fewer friends over the years. > Proper preservation requires removal of the air to prevent > oxidative degradation. Also, one must remove air to prevent > aerobic bacteria from spoiling the food. When I make "refrigerator pickles" like this, I'm thinking in terms of a 3-4 week lifetime. If the jar is reasonably well sanitized and the marinade boiled, then I feel that the result (after pouring the hot marinade over the vegetables) is probably pretty safe. m5@vail.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) _________________________________________________________________ |Drying |Pickling |Freezing |Jellies |Sauces |Smoking| _________________________________________________________________ Mike Bowers -- mikeb@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu