Pickled Hot Peppers

Call me a modern gal, but having no Internet at your house for more than two days SUCKS. I have tried to use it as an excuse to focus more on my garden and domestic chores (read: preserving the harvest, like, NOW), but having no Pandora to stream tunes or South Park to laugh at while I cook and clean, it can get pretty quiet and kinda dull. After spending my Labor Day afternoon in the kitchen preparing tomato salsa and then cleaning up the mess, I decided it was time for a beer, burger, and some free Wi-Fi around the corner from my apartment.

I’ve got more recipes to come soon (pickled red onions, peach butter and sauce, Swedish beets, bread and butter pickles, tomato salsa), but for now I leave you with this simple recipe for pickled hot peppers, a favorite snack of mine. If you’re anything like me, eating them out of the jar will do, but more civilized folk may prefer them added to a cheese and olive plate or served sliced over a nice steak salad with your favorite vinaigrette, crumbled feta, blue, or goat cheese, pickled onion, fresh cilantro, vine-ripened tomatoes, and greens (I suggest an arugula-lettuce blend for a touch of pepperiness plus crunch).

Pickled Hot Peppers

Yields about 5-6 pints

Ingredients:

• 2.75 lbs hot peppers, stemmed and halved (I used mostly red cherry peppers)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed whole
• 6 cups vinegar
• 2 cups water

Directions:

Prepare peppers as indicated. Combine garlic, vinegar, and water in a large saucepot; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the garlic. Pack peppers into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace; ladle hot liquid over peppers, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjust two-piece caps, and process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

WARNING: Some varieties of hot peppers are spicier than others and can BURN if not prepared with plastic gloves; I found the cherry peppers to be mild enough to work WITHOUT gloves.

Recipe slightly adapted from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.