It's hard to describe, but the oil smooths the taste of the peppers. Sort of takes off that rough edge of "rawness", if that makes sense. Other types of peppers marinated in oil are popular in Italian neighborhoods on an antipasto plate or with Italian beef, on sandwiches, hot dogs, you name it - they eat them on almost everything, including pizza. The pickled jalapenos would be good on nachos, in tacos, burritos, quesadillas and other Mexican foods. They are still vinegary, but I like the ones in oil better (I did until my stomach rebelled - I can't eat spicy peppers anymore). Hope that helps.

What sugar? You mean this recipe? MARINATED PEPPERS Bell, Hungarian, banana, or jalapeno 4 lbs. firm peppers* 1 cup bottled lemon juice 2 cups white vinegar (5%) 1 tbsp oregano leaves 1 cup olive or salad oil 1/2 cup chopped onions 2 cloves garlic, quartered (optional) 2 tbsp prepared horseradish (optional) * Note: It is possible to adjust the intensity of pickled jalapeno peppers by using all hot jalapeno peppers (hot style), or blending with sweet and mild peppers (medium or mild style). For hot style: Use 4 lbs jalapeno peppers. For medium style: Use 2 lbs jalapeno peppers and 2 lb sweet and mild peppers. For mild style: Use 1 lb jalapeno peppers and 3 lbs sweet and mild peppers. YIELD: About 9 half-pints PROCEDURE: Select your favorite pepper. CAUTION: IF YOU SELECT HOT PEPPERS, WEAR RUBBER OR PLASTIC GLOVES WHILE HANDLING THEM OR WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY WITH SOAP AND WATER BEFORE TOUCHING YOUR FACE. Peppers may be left whole. Large peppers may be quartered. Wash, slash two to four slits in each pepper, and blanch in boiling water or blister in order to peel tough-skinned hot peppers. Peppers may be blistered using one of the following methods: Oven or broiler method: Place peppers in a hot oven (400 degrees F) or broiler for 6-8 minutes or until skins blister. Range-top method: Cover hot burner, either gas or electric, with heavy white mesh. Place peppers on burner for several minutes until skins blister. Allow peppers to cool. Place in pan and cover with a damp cloth. This will make peeling the peppers easier. After several minutes of cooling, peel each pepper. Flatten whole peppers. Mix all remaining ingredients in a saucepan and heat to boiling. Place 1/4 garlic clove (optional) and 1/4 teaspoon salt in each half pint of 1/2 teaspoon per pint. Fill jars with peppers, add hot, well-mixed oil/pickling solution over peppers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process. Recommended process time for MARINATED PEPPERS in a boiling-water canner half pints or pints, 15 min. You can pack them raw. They are peeled because the peels can be tough on some varieties of peppers. Yes, you can mix the kinds of peppers. You can roast some if you want. My friend said the roasted red peppers are really good ! You are able to use the oil due to the high acid content, plus some foods absorb oil differently than others. Not all vegetables can be safely canned with the oil. The recipe has been tested thoroughly. It is safe to use. They will be rather soft, the roasted ones very soft. Your bottled lemon juice should have an expiration date on it. Yes, you use dried oregano.

Kris, I confess to having the jar sealers for several years and never used them. Now I'm going crazy with the canning jars because I have a collection of cracked FoodSaver canisters. soften the lids in hot water - I microwave a little water to boiling then drop in the lid dry lid clean jar rim put lid on jar place FoodSaver Jar Sealer over jar remove air with hand held until light turns green OR with FoodSaver unit using hose attachment when fully vacuumed, take the jar sealer off the canning jar put the ring on if you choose to - it's optional

"Is the National Center for Home Food Preservation a legitimate source? Is this recipe, from their website, considered safe (including that 1 cup of oil)??" NCHFP is THE legitimate source for safe home canning. It is the base used for all other approved publications. The recipe is one of very few approved recipes that allows for oil and has been lab tested numerous times and is perfectly safe when it is followed in detail. Unfortunately you didn't. Lemon juice has very different, more effective surfactant properties and binding properties, with oils than vinegar does. And bottled lemon juice is almost 2x as acidic as vinegar. So to sub vinegar for lemon juice you have to use 2x as much (which you apparently did) for the pH, but yes you will have a more oily (less mixed) appearance. "in terms of substitution ... can I substitute the same amount of garlic for onion? If I wanted to use only garlic and no onion, could I use 1/2 cup of garlic and no onion? They are both low-acid vegetables." Yes they are but they have very different pH. 5.3 for onions and 5.8-6.0 for garlic. That is a big mathematical difference on the pH scale. So allowed substitutions are basically limited to like-for-like things. While you might get safely by with adding a couple more cloves of garlic with less onions or maybe 1/4 cup garlic instead of the onions you can't know for sure without pH testing. There simply isn't much modification or wiggle room when dealing with low acid ingredient recipes when they will be BWB canned. So if you made those substitutions in garlic and onions then I would be concerned with the safety of the results. If you did not make them and used 4 cups of 5% vinegar then while the flavor will be changed they should be safe. Dave