We had a nice amount of banana peppers come off of our plant this year.:
The last two unpicked ones eventually turned reddish. I wasn’t sure what that was about so I googled it. Red just means they have done some more ripening on the vine. But while on this search, I came across someone talking about pickled banana peppers and it lodged in my brain. So last Saturday, as we were walking through the farmers market, I saw a bunch of banana peppers (sweet and hot) and decided to try pickling them. I bought five to supplement my meager two. The farmers market ones were about 5x’s as large as mine. I guess that is the difference between someone who grows banana peppers for a living and me.
I used this recipe from allrecipes.com and cut it down to about a 1/3 of what is listed.
Last year, I bought 12 canning jars during pickle fest so I used one of those. I washed it in the dishwasher before the canning process so that it would be sterile (I guess).
Next, I sliced up the peppers. Now, some of these were hot. I didn’t really think about it beforehand but once I was finished, my hands and arm swelled. See here:
They burned for hours until Mr. took pity on me and looked up how to relieve it. Rubbing alcohol or hand-sanitizer can be used.
So I put everything together in the pot and began heating.
That completed, I put everything in the jar. I didn’t make it to the top but eh, good enough.
Now, I don’t own a canning pan so I googled (internet, I love you) what could be used instead. A rack or something else was suggested so long as the bottom of the jar doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan. I tried a few things and finally decided on my gigantic stock pot I use for turkey brining with a colander inside. Ghetto but it worked. Unfortunately, it took about an hour for it to boil. I am afraid of what my gas bill is going to look like next month.
Note: The water did cover the top of the jar by about an inch. Doesn't look like it in this pic but it did.
After sitting in the boiling water for 15 or so minutes, I pulled it out.
It sat on the counter from Sunday to Tuesday.
And then we opened it.
I was a bit afraid about eating these because I didn’t refrigerate them (instructions said to refrigerate only after opening) and I read some things on what bad can happen if you don’t can the right way.
But, when Mr. opened the jar, the air whoosed from it making me feel like it was nicely sealed in there.
I tentatively took a bite and….
They were HOT!
Yikes!
But, we ate them on Italian subs on Tuesday and Italian beefs on Wednesday and Thursday. I prefer them on the beefs. I like spice. Spice is the spice of life. So, I didn't mind the heat which definitely was dumbed down once these were not eaten alone but on a sandwich.
My only complaint was that I wish they weren’t so mushy and had a bit more crunch but it wasn’t terrible.
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