Pickled peppers (attn: usual suspect)

Jonathan Ball said:

I figure you'll know something about this.

I have several jalapeño plants going, with maybe two dozen peppers still on them. They've all gone
a beautiful deep red. Earlier, I smoked some of them over mesquite wood (not charcoal), and came
up with some decent chipotles. I'd like to pickle some of these, possibly with some other
vegetables, and wonder if you (or anyone else) have any tips.

You have several options. First, you can pickle them alone. I just use a traditional pickling brine
and add a bit of garlic; I also use a 2:1 vinegar-water ration for most of my pickling (which is
pretty strong). The peppers can be pickled whole or sliced. Sliced peppers tend to be hotter since
the capsaicin inside of the peppers is fully exposed; it really depends how hot your particular
peppers are to start, though. The easiest way to do this would be to get some prepared pickling
spices to make a brine (I think Whole Foods has it in bulk). You can just use a brine of water,
vinegar, and salt for peppers, but I like a little more flavor. Also, Spike seasoning works pretty
well as a pickling spice.

Second, you can make a spicy pickled medley -- kind of like the jars on the shelf at the store. I
don't know what you have in your garden, but my favorites would include cauliflower, carrots,
turnips (or daikon radish), green beans, cabbage (strips -- try red for color contrast), onion,
garlic, and cucumber. You can use whatever you like. You can also use pickling spices or just plain
brine. The veggies will get a lot of the heat from the jalapeños even if you don't slice them. I'm a
serious heat freak, so I'd slice'em anyway.

Both of the above will require processing in a canning bath and about 4-6 weeks storage. Any
standard pickling recipe/procedure will work for jalapeños.

An alternative to the second idea if you don't want to do any formal canning is to make a "quick"
pickling, kind of like an Asian pickle. The link below is for a Malaysian style pickle (acar) that
only needs a day or two in the fridge. You can use it as a guide for another "fast pickle" if you
don't have (or want) lemongrass or galangal. You could use other vegetables (from the same list
above) as well. magma.cavegetable.htmOpen ↗

One final idea, you could make a condiment similar to Huy Fong chili sauce out of them. It's
basically pureed red jalapeños, garlic, salt, and vinegar. I don't have a precise recipe for
this, but I'd start by pureeing the peppers and garlic (as much or as little as you like) and
adding a lighter vinegar (diluted cider vinegar, maybe) until I was satisfied with the
consistency. Salt to taste.

Hope that's helpful.

usual suspect said:

Jonathan Ball said:

I figure you'll know something about this.

I have several jalapeño plants going, with maybe two dozen peppers still on them. They've all
gone a beautiful deep red. Earlier, I smoked some of them over mesquite wood (not charcoal), and
came up with some decent chipotles. I'd like to pickle some of these, possibly with some other
vegetables, and wonder if you (or anyone else) have any tips.

You have several options. First, you can pickle them alone. I just use a traditional pickling
brine and add a bit of garlic; I also use a 2:1 vinegar-water ration for most of my pickling
(which is pretty strong). The peppers can be pickled whole or sliced. Sliced peppers tend to be
hotter since the capsaicin inside of the peppers is fully exposed; it really depends how hot your
particular peppers are to start, though. The easiest way to do this would be to get some prepared
pickling spices to make a brine (I think Whole Foods has it in bulk). You can just use a brine of
water, vinegar, and salt for peppers, but I like a little more flavor. Also, Spike seasoning works
pretty well as a pickling spice.

Second, you can make a spicy pickled medley -- kind of like the jars on the shelf at the store.

This is more what I had in mind.

Quoted message said:

I don't know what you have in your garden,

Nothing but a few small carrots. Not a problem; lots of groceries nearby.

Quoted message said:

but my favorites would include cauliflower, carrots, turnips (or daikon radish), green beans,
cabbage (strips -- try red for color contrast), onion, garlic, and cucumber. You can use
whatever you like. You can also use pickling spices or just plain brine. The veggies will get a
lot of the heat from the jalapeños even if you don't slice them. I'm a serious heat freak, so
I'd slice'em anyway.

I like things pretty hot, although I can't eat as hot as I used to do. My wife doesn't like hot at
all, so I don't get to eat as much of it any more. When I eat hot, I eat a *lot* of reasonably hot.
My burritos are pretty well swimming in hot sauce at the Mexican fast food joints, and some of them
make some fairly hot stuff.

Quoted message said:

Both of the above will require processing in a canning bath and about 4-6 weeks storage. Any
standard pickling recipe/procedure will work for jalapeños.

An alternative to the second idea if you don't want to do any formal canning is to make a "quick"
pickling, kind of like an Asian pickle. The link below is for a Malaysian style pickle (acar) that
only needs a day or two in the fridge. You can use it as a guide for another "fast pickle" if you
don't have (or want) lemongrass or galangal.

Both readily available around here.

Quoted message said:

You could use other vegetables (from the same list above) as well.
magma.cavegetable.htmOpen ↗

One final idea, you could make a condiment similar to Huy Fong chili sauce out of them. It's
basically pureed red jalapeños, garlic, salt, and vinegar. I don't have a precise recipe for
this, but I'd start by pureeing the peppers and garlic (as much or as little as you like) and
adding a lighter vinegar (diluted cider vinegar, maybe) until I was satisfied with the
consistency. Salt to taste.

Hope that's helpful.

It is. Thanks.

You should see these peppers. They're beautiful. I bought a pack of "Renée's Garden" jalapeño seeds
two years ago; something called "Paul's Piñata" variety. I had some seeds left over from the
original pack, plus some that I reserved from last summer's crop. Both sets of plants did quite well
this year. The peppers are pretty good sized, and almost a fire-engine red. If I had a website, I'd
post some pictures. Stay tuned...

Jonathan Ball said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I figure you'll know something about this.

I have several jalapeño plants going, with maybe two dozen peppers still on them. They've all
gone a beautiful deep red. Earlier, I smoked some of them over mesquite wood (not charcoal), and
came up with some decent chipotles. I'd like to pickle some of these, possibly with some other
vegetables, and wonder if you (or anyone else) have any tips.

You have several options. First, you can pickle them alone. I just use a traditional pickling
brine and add a bit of garlic; I also use a 2:1 vinegar-water ration for most of my pickling
(which is pretty strong). The peppers can be pickled whole or sliced. Sliced peppers tend to be
hotter since the capsaicin inside of the peppers is fully exposed; it really depends how hot your
particular peppers are to start, though. The easiest way to do this would be to get some prepared
pickling spices to make a brine (I think Whole Foods has it in bulk). You can just use a brine of
water, vinegar, and salt for peppers, but I like a little more flavor. Also, Spike seasoning
works pretty well as a pickling spice.

Second, you can make a spicy pickled medley -- kind of like the jars on the shelf at the store.

This is more what I had in mind.

I thought so.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don't know what you have in your garden,

Nothing but a few small carrots. Not a problem; lots of groceries nearby.

I forgot celery in the list.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

but my favorites would include cauliflower, carrots, turnips (or daikon radish), green beans,
cabbage (strips -- try red for color contrast), onion, garlic, and cucumber. You can use whatever
you like. You can also use pickling spices or just plain brine. The veggies will get a lot of the
heat from the jalapeños even if you don't slice them. I'm a serious heat freak, so I'd slice'em
anyway.

I like things pretty hot, although I can't eat as hot as I used to do. My wife doesn't like hot at
all, so I don't get to eat as much of it any more. When I eat hot, I eat a *lot* of reasonably
hot. My burritos are pretty well swimming in hot sauce at the Mexican fast food joints, and some
of them make some fairly hot stuff.

Quoted message said:

Both of the above will require processing in a canning bath and about 4-6 weeks storage. Any
standard pickling recipe/procedure will work for jalapeños.

An alternative to the second idea if you don't want to do any formal canning is to make a "quick"
pickling, kind of like an Asian pickle. The link below is for a Malaysian style pickle (acar)
that only needs a day or two in the fridge. You can use it as a guide for another "fast pickle"
if you don't have (or want) lemongrass or galangal.

Both readily available around here.

I know you're resourceful enough to find what you want, but I have no way of knowing if you like
either or were interested in making acar.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You could use other vegetables (from the same list above) as well.
magma.cavegetable.htmOpen ↗

One final idea, you could make a condiment similar to Huy Fong chili sauce out of them. It's
basically pureed red jalapeños, garlic, salt, and vinegar. I don't have a precise recipe for
this, but I'd start by pureeing the peppers and garlic (as much or as little as you like) and
adding a lighter vinegar (diluted cider vinegar, maybe) until I was satisfied with the
consistency. Salt to taste.

Hope that's helpful.

It is. Thanks.

Anytime.

Quoted message said:

You should see these peppers. They're beautiful. I bought a pack of "Renée's Garden" jalapeño
seeds two years ago; something called "Paul's Piñata" variety. I had some seeds left over from the
original pack, plus some that I reserved from last summer's crop. Both sets of plants did quite
well this year. The peppers are pretty good sized, and almost a fire-engine red. If I had a
website, I'd post some pictures. Stay tuned...

I have a few heirloom varieties (including Paul's Piñata). Also have smoe hybrids like Giants and
Conchos, both of which are huge. I ended up giving over half my peppers away, as usual. Renee's
Garden is the brand I use for my yellow carrots. They're really good.

usual suspect said:

Jonathan Ball wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You should see these peppers. They're beautiful. I bought a pack of "Renée's Garden" jalapeño
seeds two years ago; something called "Paul's Piñata" variety. I had some seeds left over from
the original pack, plus some that I reserved from last summer's crop. Both sets of plants did
quite well this year. The peppers are pretty good sized, and almost a fire-engine red. If I had a
website, I'd post some pictures. Stay tuned...

I have a few heirloom varieties (including Paul's Piñata). Also have smoe hybrids like Giants and
Conchos, both of which are huge. I ended up giving over half my peppers away, as usual. Renee's
Garden is the brand I use for my yellow carrots. They're really good.

Renée's Garden is what I used for the carrots, too.

"Jonathan Ball" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

usual suspect said:

Jonathan Ball wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You should see these peppers. They're beautiful. I bought a pack of "Renée's Garden" jalapeño
seeds two years ago; something called "Paul's Piñata" variety. I had some seeds left over from
the original pack, plus some that I reserved from last summer's crop. Both sets of plants did
quite well this year. The peppers are pretty good sized, and almost a fire-engine red. If I had
a website, I'd post some pictures. Stay tuned...

I have a few heirloom varieties (including Paul's Piñata). Also have smoe hybrids like Giants
and Conchos, both of which are huge. I ended up giving over half my peppers away, as usual.
Renee's Garden is the brand I use for my yellow carrots. They're really good.

Renée's Garden is what I used for the carrots, too.

Ah, how sweet.