Sweet. Looking good Bruce.

Will there be an open invite to come and sample this weekend?

Nice Harvest, never canned anything, what's cold canning? I would think Vinegar and salt? Do you mind sharing the process? I have a jalapeno plant a coworker gave me and it's full of peppers. How long does it keep? Is it shelf stable or have to fridge it?

Thanks,
Mark

Ottawa: Sure, come on down. I will even give a jar for the road back.
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Habajolokia: I based it off a recipe that shoontok posted last year and I want to give him credit for that. Keep in mind this is not true canning and will not preserve the peppers like regular canning. However, this recipe should be good for a couple months at least if kept in the fridge. Here you go.

As many peppers as you want to cold can
As many jars as necessary to hold the peppers (8oz or 16oz)
Minced Garlic (comes in jar already chopped)
Sea Salt
Whole Peppercorns (Unground black table peppers)
Distilled White Vinegar
Water

I will base this recipe on 8 oz jars. Simply double all measurements for 16oz jars.

First, Clean the jars well. Mix the water and Vinegar at a 1 to 3 ratio. Mix enough to fill all the jars to about 3/4 full. (ie: For 4 - 8oz jars, mix three cups of vinegar water)

Place the sliced peppers in and lightly pack them down below the top edge of the jars. Place 2 tsp of minced garlic in each jar. Then add 2 tsp of sea salt. Sprinkle in about 2 tsp of peppercorns and then pout the vinegar water in until it is right to the rim. Then place the cap on and refrigerate. You can eat them at any time but I suggest waiting at least two days for the vinegar, salt, garlic, peppercorn solution to flavor the peppers.

You can certainly adjust totals of the ingredients or leave out the garlic or peppercorns altogether. Or use ground black pepper or crushed fresh garlic. You might want to add some onion slices. Add/subtract/adjust/change to however you see fit. I would however keep the salt and vinegar/water ratios pretty close to ensure that they keep the peppers fresh while waiting to be eaten.

I eat these mostly on sandwiches much like you get from a Subway. However, they can be used in dishes just like fresh peppers. I would assume you can do this with about any type of pepper but a Turkey sandwich isn't supposed to bit back so I stick to the milder varieties.

And again, this isn't canning in the traditional sense so understand that you cannot leave these on a shelf in the cupboard for three months and expect them not to go bad.

But this is a real quick and easy way to stock up some peppers while they are coming off the bushes in droves. Last year I did a bunch of Hot Hungarian Wax peppers this way and was eating them almost until Christmas on my sandwiches. I gave out several to friends and family and got several requests for more. The Hot Hungarians work great and have just the right heat imo.

Nice harvest, Bruce!

I was surprised that you only had 1 jar of pepperoncinis.

Cool thanks Bruce for posting that info, will give it a shot.

@tsheets don't be surprised Bruce's dog is a Chilihead so he fights for a few plants and pods.

Bruce maybe next season plant a few for him to have as his own.

Mark

Oh, I just meant the number of peppers in the one where they're all laid out looked like it should have been more than 1 jar. :-)

tsheets, yah, those pepperoncinis are thin skinned and pack in really easily. The jalapenos were very firm and much thicker skinned. The HHW were in between. The HHW were all off my two overwintered plants...the ones my dog tore into two or three times during the winter/spring. They came back real strong.

I ate a red ripe pepperoncini a couple days ago and really liked the flavor. Low heat but nice taste.

This is just my first harvest. I will have a pretty good haul of sweet banana peppers when I pick them. And the Hungarians, Jalapenos and Pepperoncinis are already trying to put some more fruit on their branches.

My ornamentals are doing good too. I have a Twilight (seed from Ottawa) that is really starting to get a diverse color spread on the pods with several turning orange and red along with the purple and yellow. My Orange tree habanero and red tree habanero (seeds from Smokemaster) are really growing straight and tall too. The orange tree hab is a good three feet tall and didn't fork until about 2.5 feet. It hasn't even put out a bloom yet. the red tree have has 2-3 pods already and is slightly shorter but forked earlier too. I am really psyched about those two. I am hoping for 5 feet by the end of summer. Should make an interesting overwinter if I can keep it away from AJ (dog). He doesn't bother house plants, just pepper plants.
Bruce

Excellent harvest!
Your sweet banana harvest is great, too! ;-)
I prefer a red-ripened Pepperoncini over a sundried tomato any day of the week.

Josh

Looking great. Looks like you will have peppers a while :)

Nice Harvest Bruce!
Those pickled peps look so crisp! I usually throw some roughly chopped garlic cloves in my pickle mix but the mincing makes a lot more sense to speed up the flavors. I've been throwing in some carrots too.
Those pepperoncini look great sliced up like that!

Bruce, I picked these this morning and cold canned them in a very similar fashion. The longer pods on the left are Bananarama Hybrids and the pods on the right are Banana Hot.
I use pickling salt, which dissolves quickly, white peppercorns, and I minced fresh garlic in the food processor. I cannot wait to put some of these crisp rings on my sandwiches and bagels. Thanks for the super simple inspiration.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peppermeister - Hot Pepper Gardening, Recipes and Tips

Nice. I like cold jarring mine too. I even canned cayenne rings for sandwiches. I found red jalapenos the most flavorful cold canned. Never grew pepperochinis, but hoping to do so next year. Do you find them producing a good yield like bananas?

Bruce, I gave you and your pickling formula a shout on my blog today. See below.

Here is a link that might be useful: BANANARAMA! Harvest Update July 31, 2012