I don't use nearly as much sugar as this recipe calls for .. we love it in lieu of pickle relish on hot dogs, in salads, etc.

Sweet Jalapeno Relish

Makes about 6 pints

1 1/2 quarts finely chopped fresh jalape peppers (6 cups)
1 quart finely chopped cucumbers (4 cups)
2 onions finely chopped (2 cups)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsps salt
5 1/4 cups sugar
3 cups cider vinegar
4 tbsps pickling spices tied in cheesecloth bag.

Combine jalapenos, cucumbers, onions and all of salt in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with cold water and let stand for 2 hours. Drain thoroughly, pressing on the vegetables to remove excess liquid. Combine the sugar, spice bag and vinegar in a large non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove spice bag. Pack into hot sterile jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

I wonder how this would be with armenian cucumbers? Cucumbers don't do well in Arizona but armenian cucumbers do. I should have some pretty soon. I'll hang on to this recipe and give it try.
Would that be a safe substitution or would I have to refrigerate it?

Has anybody tried this one? I would like to try it but wondering how good it is. Also, would love to find a similar recipe in a jam as I prefer jam textures.
* Posted by SuzyQ2 MNz4 (My Page) on
Tue, Aug 30, 05 at 17:41

Here are a few from the Harvest Forum. I've tried them and they are good :-)

Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly

3 cups cranberry juice -- (or cran-raspberry juice)
1 cup jalapeno peppers -- chopped and seeded
7 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 pouches liquid fruit pectin (Certo) -- 3 ounces each
10 drops red food coloring -- optional

Prepare your jars and get all canning supplies ready (you'll need 8 half pint jars). Place cranberry juice and peppers in a blender; cover and process until peppers are fully chopped. Strain through a double thickness of cheesecloth. Pour the strained juice into a large kettle; add sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar and pectin; return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim foam. Add food coloring, if desired. Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

tracy, the armenian probably wouldn't work ... I've read that it's really a melon, while other sources describe it as a slicing cuke, quite different from a pickling cuke. I think slicing cukes have a much higher moisture content and would probably turn to mush during the canning process.
kay

tracydr, I make chipotles out of our jalapenos, and we get lots of them late in the summer and fall. We are having a very long cold spring, so I envy your jalapenos (I wish I had some right now). When we make smoked hot peppers we use mostly jalapenos, but we also include serranos and hot wax into the mix, sometimes New Mex peppers too. Jalapenos are our work horse hot peppers though, so versatile!

I make chipotles two different ways. I smoke them and freeze them right away (when they are still soft), or else I smoke them, dehydrate them until they are shelf stable ('hard' or brittle somewhat). Sometimes I smoke them, dry them and pulverize them, and use the powder in any recipe that calls for either chipotles of smoked paprika.

The other thing I do with them (other than eating them fresh) is to pickle them. I use the refrigerator pickle method (raw pack method) so they live in the fridge. I have really large glass pickle containers so I can make a couple of batches. I did do a BWB pickle batch a couple of years ago but we no longer do it this way, we did not like the mushy texture at all. As a mater of fact, we have also been doing our cucumbers pickled this way (refrigerator pickles) as well as the chayotes (mirlitons). We do use the BWB method for pickling snap beans since beans need to be cooked anyway and I find the processing cooks them but does not make them too mushy (unlike the peppers and the cucumbers).

Let me know if you need further details on how to smoke, dry, pickle....

OK, here are more details. This is the pickling method I have been using:

Pickled peppers (2 quarts jar)

5 cups Cider vinegar (5% vinegar)
1 cups water
10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
5-6 bay leaves
2 tbsp picking salt (kosher will work)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp coriander seeds
Peppers (all jalapenos or a mix) to fit in a 2 quarts jar.
Carrots

Put vinegar and spices in a pot and bring it to boil. You can either blanch or steam (very lightly) peppers and carrots, or pack them raw. Remember though to open a little slit on each pepper, this way the pickling mixture can penetrate, and the peppers will not float around as much. If you use the raw pack method, you might get some peppers floating, and more liquid/pepper proportion. Heating and slightly cooking them allows you to pack them in the jar tighter. I have done it both ways and both ways are good, just remember to open that little slit on them.

Put the peppers and carrots in 2 quart jars and pour the hot vinegar solution. I like to include the garlic, bay leaves and some coriander seeds in the jars, for looks and taste. Cover the jar with its lid and let it cool down to room temperature. Refrigerate and wait a few days for the pickles to be 'done'.

I did the chayotes in a similar way (raw pack), cutting them in wedge shaped slices. I also added some black pepper corns in the chayote pickle, some hot peppers, and some fresh oregano. I pickled them in December and we just started eating them a couple of weeks ago, they are delicious.

The above description is for refrigerator pickles, and it is not shelf stable, it should stay in the fridge. Supposedly they should be eaten within a few weeks, but we eat ours within a year. Never had a problem, and they taste delicious even months later. However, I have to warn you that this is not the recommendation from the USDA, they say eat within 2-3 weeks. We wait at least that long for the pickles to be 'done' though. I am reluctant to give you a method that the USDA considers 'unsafe', but I also want to be truthful. This is the way we have been doing it for at least 3 years, they taste very good and no one has gotten sick.

About two years ago we did a batch the same way I described but using a boiling water bath method afterward (and using the right type of jars of course). This way the jars can stay out of the fridge, and you can gift them to folks on your 'gift' list. However, this method did not give us a product we liked. Too mushy, we like our pickles crisp. I understand that there is a product out there (pickle crisp is the name) that can prevent this. I have never used it, but other forum contributors have, so they might chime in on how to use it if you want to make your pepper pickles shelf stable.

Smoking peppers. I have used a dedicated electric smoker, and this works. Recently (last year) I found out that a drum style BBQ griller works even better for me. I build a big fire in it with pecan wood. Make lots and lots of embers, let the flame die down all the way. Place the peppers on a cooling rack that fits in standard rectangular baking pans, and add water to the trays (baking pans). Put them on the grill this way. I then add a little water to the smoking embers and close the drum lid. After a few hours, the peppers get a little blackened and wrinkle a bit. You can chose the level of smoking that you want, a little or a lot. Afterward, I freeze them directly, or I preserve them further by dehydrating the pre-smoked peppers.

Further warning is that this smoking business takes all day, so I do it on a weekend day, and I do a whole bunch of peppers at once. Typically 2-3 batches a year, depending on the harvest.

Have fun with it!

This is a good one to make with either all green or all red jalapeno peppers to get a nice color; if you mix colors it tastes good but isn't as pretty.

Lee Fanucchi's (Fresno County Master Gardener)
Red Devil Sauce

1 pound of jalapeno peppers
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
2-3 cloves of garlic

Place in blender and push "chop" button to process adding peppers as you go. Place in glass jar and store in refrigerator. Will last up to two years. Can use either red or green peppers.

Fresno Bee
Setember 13, 2001

Wow- these all sound great. Thanks so much for going into detail, especially Cabrita. Yesterday I picked about a quart of jalapenos and half that of cow horns and habs. Today there are a bunch more cow horns that are red.
Very soon I will have tomatoes to go with.
I'm really looking forward to trying the chipoltes and plan to add some cow horns to it for some heat.

Cabrita, I just wanted to mention I don't see anything in your Pickled Peppers recipe which would make it "unsafe" after 2-3 weeks. In fact, Colorado Extension Service offers a similar formula for pickled peppers and recommends a six-month refrigerated life.

Even then, with all that vinegar it's unlikely there would be any kind of safety issue if the peppers were kept longer. Sometimes USDA/Extension recommendations aren't for safety as much as quality and if after six months there's a likelihood of softening or degradation of flavors, then six months is the limit they would place on storage.

I'm not sure where the 2-3 week limit comes from but it seems inordinately short.

Keep those pickled peppers as long as they last and as long as flavor and texture are appealing.

Carol

On the pepper recipe, about how much (weight) does it take for two jars? How many carrots do you use and how do you cut them?
Any suggestions on a good source for liquid pectin? Im wanting to try habanero gold and maybe cranberry jalapeño jam. Also, can I freeze peppers to save up until I have enough? I found some pickle recipes calling for as much as 4 pounds of jalapenos. Not sure how long it will take to get that many fresh but I guess I can wait on the bigger recipes until fall when my peppers go insane.
If I can find liquid pectin, I'll try habanero gold, the big,hot batch, tomorrow. Unpacking our house for our move-in after the fire and found the canning stuff today!

I inherited a large batch of nectarines yesterday, and decided to try one of the pepper jam recipes.

The plum jam looked about right (Ball Blue Book), but looked a bit heavy on the sugar, so cut it somewhat. The fruit was a bit firm so not possible to pit them, so sliced off as much fruit as possible. Added some lime cubes (frozen earlier) to taste, then cooked it somewhat. It needed "something" so added a splash of cider vinegar, and a tablelspoon of seeded Thai peppers that were dried last summer.

Actually, I thought I'd never use that many Thai peppers - finding them to be hotter than any others that I grow, so a little goes a long - ya know.

I cooked this combo until it looked close to being jam from the old-school method - when 2 drops merge on the spoon to become one.

It turned out better than I thought it would. I note that most recipes on the forum call for jalapeno - but my Thai's like it here better - and are hotter anyway.

So - that's my contribution - otherwise, I use the Thais rather sparingly when added to chili, etc., but I also used them to make a hot sauce (also in the Ball Book) but did not ferment it - so it will never be an "Avery Island" type, but still good enough for a bit of quick heat.

Bejay

Bejay-You made a nectarine and hot pepper jam? That sounds a lot like habanero gold! How yummy!
I may have to give that a try with my habaneros some time, especially since you didn't use pectin. How inspiring.
I'm also going to have to try the Red Devil sauce with the cayennes as my husband likes Tobasco type sauces. We made some similar sauces last summer and he ate them by the quart.
Bejay-I grew those Thai peppers one year and they are hot! Much hotter than habaneros. I used them one or two to a batch of gumbo or chili, not even cutting them up. I also froze them and a gallon bag seemed to last a long time.

This is so fun. I made the habanero gold last night and used a bunch of habaneros. Now today, while waiting for my jars to go through the dishwasher I'm going to prep some tomatillo salsa which uses a fair amount of hot peppers. I'm going to use my cowhorn/cayennes for this.
Gave away some jalapenos this week so will have to wait for more before doing another recipe. I think the next recipe will have to be a hot sauce for the hubby as he loves hot sauce with chips. Something like the Red Devil sauce will work.
After my trip to the produce market I have a huge list of things to process this week. I'm so excited!!

Last summer we had a bumper crop of jalapenos so I made bread-and-butter jalapenos with a honey and spice brine. Mixed half red and half green the slices are very pretty in the jar.

I always freeze a good amount of hot peppers. The nice thing is if you have some frozen, you can make jams like Habanero Gold in the winter or Cranberry Jalapeno in season.

Peach Jam for a Winter Morning, which is peach with honey and peppers is also a nice preserve.

Just be careful on adding peppers to fruit jams, as they are a low-acid ingredient. Don't go overboard.

Carol

I will make sure to always replace a sweet pepper with hot pepper, not adding more low-acid veggies. Thanks, Carol

I thought about adding peppers to jam and resulting acid pH factor, but my understanding was that dried peppers were OK. Did I make a mistake about this?

Bejay

Carol, thanks for the feedback on the pickling recipe. In your opinion, would a 50-50 vinegar and water also stay OK for 6 months? (using 5% vinegar). So far so good on flavor and quality with our pickles. I guess they last closer to 6 months than a year, but we have had some jars for a year (the really hot peppers).

tracydr, not sure if you were asking me about measurements. I have scales, but do not weigh peppers or other produce for canning (I weigh individual tomatoes, cauliflowers, squash, just to see how much they weigh? sometimes I am curious). I go by volume when pickling.

I take the jars that I have available for the refrigerator pickles, they do not need to be mason jars. I pack them with the washed peppers and fill with water. Then I carefully pour that water out and measure its volume. I add a little more, since some will be lost to evaporation. This works regardless of how many peppers you have, and regardless of what size jar you use. Drain and dry peppers (or slightly steam for hot pack) and dry the jars. Repack peppers with the spices, add the boiling water/vinegar/sugar/salt mix, and voila!

Bejay, dried peppers are no problem at all in any canned product. Once the water has been removed, so has the risk.

There's some argument that a full-sugar high-acid fruit jam presents little risk, even with added fresh peppers, assuming you're only adding a few. The sugar is a natural dessicant, binding the water which might encourage development of botulism spores in the low-acid elements.

However, using dried peppers removes any uncertainty.

cabrita, I'm not sure about the refrigerator life of a 50-50 pepper pickle. Joy of Pickling has a recipe for Pickled Whole Hot Peppers with a 50-50 solution, but that recipe is BWB or pasteurized for shelf stability.

Ziedrich also offers a Refrigerator Pickled Pepper with a 2:1 solution (water:vinegar) and says they will keep well for 6-8 weeks.

If I find out something more specific, I'll post it.

Carol

I'm loving my Joy of Pickling book. Making the mango apple chutney and corn relish tomorrow.
I couldn't find black mustard seed, or any mustard seed for that matter. Have one more place to try. Also can't find fenugreek for some of the other recipes.

For mail-order I really recommend The Spice House. They have the freshest highest-quality spices and herbs I've ever found. There are some other very fine sources, but this is my favorite.

If you have access to an Indian market, they will have black/brown mustard and fenugreek. It can be confusing but brown mustard is generally used in place of black mustard, particularly in pickling. Black mustard is often extracted as oil and in this country is generally recommended for external use only, due to certain harmful compounds.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: The Spice House

Hi Tracy,

Did you make hubby a hot sauce yet? Those mangoes combined with some of those habaneros can make a fruity, island type sauce. Tastes great on chicken and especially pork.

Just a thought.

Rick

Island Style Hot Sauce

I did make habanero gold, which really highlights the fruity habanero flavor. I don't know if you could sub the mangoes for apricots, I think they are lower in acid. We're having fish tonight with the hab/gold.
I may try some fresh mango hot sauce since mangoes are 4 for a dollar right now. I'm making mango chutney this week with some of them. Great idea on the island hot sauce. I've pretty much used up the peppers for the week, except enough for fresh ones. My hubby gave a bunch away and he also staked them which I think shocked them a bit so right now we have tons of green ones but not so many ripe.

I came up with a Hawaiian-style Hot Sauce using Mangoes (pulp and nectar), fresh pineapple, onions, garlic, vinegar, honey, habs, and a mixture of Hot Portugal, Bulgarian Carrot and Red Jalapenos.

It was very hot, very fruity and very well liked. The heat did tend to "sneak up" on eaters.

However, I didn't attempt to can it. Entirely aside from the pH and density issues, I wasn't sure that application of heat processing would benefit the flavor and intensity. I just put in sterilized jars and refrigerated. It kept a long, long time.

I don't think I'd make it again because my DH isn't "into" that kind of hot sauce but our friends were happy to get jars. Of all things, it was great on omelets.

Carol

This is a great thread....I "kind" of over did it on the pepper plants... one or two packs of plants at a time because just one more hot pepper...one more hab plant won't hurt lol.

Carol- the hot peppers with mangos and pinapple sound yummy. I'm having to break my husband into that stuff slowly. I put a tiny bit of habanero gold on the side of his salmon and was really surprised when he liked it that way. He didn't like it with chips and cream cheese.
He thought the tomatillo salsa was too sweet and didn't like the cumin called for in the recipe so I'll have to make that one spicier (same amount of peppers, just change to habs) and not roast/add a spoonful of sugar next time.
I can hardly wait to open the mango chutney, although that will be a very foreign taste for my hubby. He's doing good though, considering when I met him he lived on canned tuna (plain, no mayo) and boxed mac/cheese. Some lettuce salads for roughage.
Kamine- I have to start a whole nuther garden for my fall tomatoes, ground cherries and sweet habs. I haven't even begun to figure out where I'm putting beans! Plus, need probably 10X the garlic from last winter, no idea where to put that either. You can always use more habs! I love that mine get sweet and mild for the winter and then heat up for the summer, like having two sets of plants.
I think in AZ I need about 4X the gardening space I would need in a colder climate because stuff keeps going and going....time to start the next season's plantings and nothing is anywhere close to being done with the current one. I'm eating eggplant right now off of 2009 spring's plant. It's fruiting like crazy and we're eating it once or twice a week. I need a couple of acres, minimum!
Then, need to add the orchard and berry brambles. Maybe 40 acres would do it.

Kamine-what do you do with your peppers? Have you tried any hot sauce recipes yet? We made a vinegar based one last summer that was delicious. I'll be making again soon as we're getting two handfuls or more of cowhorns a day.

I don't know if anyone mentioned that the Ball Blue Book also has a Red Hot Sauce which is a tomato, pepper, vinegar sauce. It calls for some sugar, salt and mixed pickling spices. The spices could be deleted and sugar and salt amounts are flexible.

I haven't made that particular recipe but I have made an extra-thin salsa which is in the same vein. It's great for things like pulled pork.

Carol

Hey tracydr,

You might find something interesting in the Hot Pepper Forum post (link below). 99% of the recipes don't apply to safe (tested) canning recipes but interesting none-the-less.

Personally, I like the Habanero (could work with Jalapeno) Ice Cream options. I'm going to try a batch of (insanely hot) Bhut Jolokia Ice Cream this year... yep, I'm crazy... yep, I'm a guy LOL.

Bill

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot Pepper Forum post

We prefer the non-tomato sauces. I'd like to try fermenting some this year. Do you really need the kefir or yoghurt starter for this or just brine like pickles?

Tracy, I'd love to know where you found the mild habenero seeds! My DH is still in training, so some mild habs would be just the ticket!

first time planting cowhorns & was searching for recipes using them. Was pleased to find this site and the exchange of information. Not familiar with BWB abbreviation. I will be using the information I found here. Thanks for sharing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum

BWB just means boiling water bath. Canning shorthand.

Carol

Just wanted to post that I made a fermented sauce with mixed hot peppers. Also, made a sauce using vinegar brine. Both recipes were basically from "the Joy of Pickling". I prefer the fermented sauce but they are both wonderful. Down to the last jar. Need my peppers to hurry up. I lost the habaneros, cowherds and a jalape�o in a bad freeze so am starting from baby plants, except for a Thai red pepper and one jalape�o. The one jalape�o is only enough for fresh eating, so need my plants to get moving!

I was wondering if there is a recipe safe for canning, of pickled whole jalape�os? We just got some and hubby would like them whole. I did look in bbb, ball complete, here & the extention office recipes and couldn't find anything.

Sure. For starters the NCHFP linked below. You can sub hot peppers for the sweets in it. Just keep the total amount the same. And if you aren't going to peel them be sure to wash them VERY well. You can also add Pickle Crisp to keep them crisper.

But when pickling whole peppers be sure to poke holes in them or better yet cut a small slit so the brine can get inside.

Also pg. 318 in the Ball Complete Book and pg. 57 in the BBB.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickling hot peppers

Made the Hot Pepper Relish from the NCHFP site today. Used 1 1/2 c Sugar and it is still pretty sweet. Will cut back another 1/4 cup next time. Used a mix of green, ancho, Yellow hot, Hungarian wax (turning red/orange), sweet banana pepper, jalapeno and Anaheim. Also added granulated garlic and some cumin. 12 1/2 pints. Pretty tasty and pretty in the jar.

What is the reason for the recommendation to peel the peppers? Is it because of pesticides or something else? I grew my own, so I know there is no pesticide residue. I do NOT want to peel them (did that once - NOT a fan). I just wondered what the reason was for making sure to thoroughly wash them if not peeling them.

I have a bumper crop of jalapenos right now and I would like to pickle them and can them (sliced). Do they resemble the ones you buy in the grocery store in the jar? That is what I am hoping for, so definitely enlighten me if I am wrong! Also, I have some whole ones already frozen. Can I thaw them and can them now?

The reason for the peeling recommendation for many foods is the same - the peel is the primary source of bacteria, fungi and other contaminants. It isn't just pesticides we have to worry about. :)

Additional points: in some foods the peels are toughened or turned chewy by the processing, the peels can retard heat penetration to the center of the food in larger food pieces, they can slow flavor and acid penetration too (IE: slices are no problem with peppers but if you don't peel and you can them whole you need to cut slits in them so the brine can get inside).

They won't be as crisp as the store bought since they are processed very differently. You can use Pickle Crisp to make them a bit crisper. The frozen ones will be mushy when thawed. Not good for canning plus a waste of energy. Save for use in cooked recipes.

Dave

Ok, thanks! Will try the Pickle Crisp and I am slicing them, so I won't peel, just scrub.

An oldie but a goodie that needed a