Pickled Peppers
By Martha // Posted 20 September, 2009 in: Farmers Market, Food + Drink, Recipes, Technique
Let’s be honest: I’m not the pickling artist in the family. Normally I leave these things to others, but something needed to be done with the two banana peppers from last month’s trip to the market—they were starting to look a little sad.
Wishfully thinking about pizza possibilities, I decided there was no choice but to pickle these babies. Tom was busy making dinner, so this had to be a Martha project. As Tom pointed out, a one-quart Ball jar wasn’t going to work for two lonely peppers. Not wanting to give up for lack of a not-too-big jar, I dug a Bonne Maman jam jar out of the recycling and set to slicing:
- 2 banana peppers, seeded and sliced into rings
Once I had the peppers sliced, I stuffed them into the jar.
For my pint-sized jar I needed a little under a cup of pickling juice. First question. What goes into the jars? (I guess I should have read this post a little more closely.) Tom normally uses two parts vinegar to one part water with 2 tablespoons of salt and adds sugar as applicable. Working with a small jar, I upped the vinegar a bit and brought down the salt:
- 3/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
With these four ingredients combined in a small pot over high heat, I opened the spice cupboard and asked a few more questions. Tom had advice for the pickling spices: garlic and mustard seeds were a must, and I offered up a bay leaf and red pepper flakes—then thought better of it—and opted for whole dried chiles instead.
- 2 small garlic cloves, smashed
- Pinch of mustard seeds (black, yellow, or both)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1–2 dried chiles, whole (or substitute a spoonful of red pepper flakes)
The next step is to add the pickling spices and garlic to the jar of peppers. Once the vinegar mixture has come to a boil, pour it over the peppers until it reaches the rim of the jar.
Done! Now our soon-to-be-pickles need to cool. After the jar and contents hit room temperature, cover, refrigerate, and enjoy in a day or two… preferably on pizza.
2 comments | Banana Peppers, Bay Leaf, Canning, Dried Chiles, Garlic, Mustard Seeds, Peppers, Pickles, Refrigerator Pickles
This entry was posted by Martha on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Farmers Market, Food + Drink, Recipes, Technique. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.
Thanks for the idea! Gives me something else to do with all of the peppers from our garden.
Well done, Martha! Let us know how they turn out. Just thinking about them is kind of making my mouth water…