As summer is draws to a close, about the only item still producing with any vigor in our garden happens to be peppers. There are so many peppers, that I was at a loss for what to do with them all. I figured that canning some up for later was the best plan. I gathered my supplies and got to work.
For this process, I used whatever peppers I had on hand, that would go to waste if not used relatively quickly. Of course, you can be more discerning in your pepper selection and go all out on one variety over another or mix and match like I did. My focus was on using what I had available so as to not create more waste or pass off too much food to the chickens or pigs.
I figured that no matter what, which ever peppers I happened to use would not go to waste and can be used in a variety of ways. On tapas at the Tipsy Oak Lounge, various breakfast dishes for our overnight guest at the Bed and Breakfast, or just as a healthy snack for the children. Plus, we could always gift them to friends and family to enjoy. Who doesn't like a homemade treat, even in veggie form.
To get started, I washed them all off, so they would be ready to slice and dice. Then I prepared the jars with the pepper corns, mustard seeds, garlic cloves, coriander seeds by evenly distributing the items between the four jars. Then I started the water, salt and sugar on the stove top and brought to a boil and added the vinegar and cooked that together for about a minute. While the water was coming to a boil, I sliced the peppers into strips and placed them in the jars as I moved through the process. I tried to get an even amount of items into each jar, of each pepper option. I will say I did use only sweet peppers, no hot peppers in this batch. Maybe on the next one I will mix and match or just do hot peppers.
After the jars were filled with peppers, I added the water and vinegar solution had cooked. I poured an even amount of the water into the jars. I closed the lids and I was done. I plan to store my peppers in the fridge which is why I did not do a water bath to seal the jars. Once the lids had sucked down into the jar, into the fridge they went. I don't have a lot of pantry space available, so this was my best solution. Now if I did have space, I would have given my jars a nice water bath, for their preservation.
As a bonus these peppers are ready to eat relatively soon after jarring. We opened one up this past weekend and they were perfect. Just the right amount of brine and flavor and still crisp, how I wanted them to be.
We hope that you will preserve your extra produce to use later in the year when nothing is growing as well. Preservation provides for a family long after the harvest season has ended and before the new growing season starts.
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