Pickles (the poster, not the product), hi. For reprocessing, while I have the contents dumped in the pot, I wash the jars again, and yes, new lids of course. For your situation of having a jar's worth left and wanting to start a new batch, if it's a new batch of the same thing, why not save it in a bowl and then when the second batch is ready, add the jar's worth back in, heat a few more minutes, and then fill all the jars? With jam I would just put the jar in the fridge to avoid having it set and then reheat (except with no-added-pectin jams, I guess you could leave those on low heat in a small pot on another burner while making the next batch). Actually with jam, I personally would feel comfortable doing open kettle (just letting it seal) and clearly marking that it's only for myself and that I will use it first--in which case, I would just put it in the fridge anyway. When you found mold in a jar, was it fuzzy, or was it just black stuff? Sometimes canned products will get black stuff on the lid, but it's just a dried-out or oxidized version of what's in the jar. If it was really mold, it is probably a bad seal. I had some peaches that no matter how many times I washed the outside of the jar, mold would grow along the threads. Never got inside, but sure was unappetizing (kept those for myself also). Melissa

The idea is to use it as a hot sauce like Tobasco. Once fermentation is complete then it will be processed, strained, cooked, and bottled. What I like is that I do not have to use vinegar as an ingredient, so the true flavors really come out. The fermentation process adds its own flavor as well. We will see how it turns out. Everything going good so far.

Hi everyone! I'm looking for any and all hot peppers to grow. I'm not being picky as I just started on my hot pepper obsession. I have a few things to trade (please see my trade list) but they wont be 100's of seeds in the trade. Please let me know how many seeds you would like and/or ask and I'll let you know how many I have. Since I'm new to this I wanted to make sure I had no hybrids from the 2013 season and didn't keep any of the seeds that even might be suspect. Thanks for looking! Genie

Treadstone: I've never froze peppers, but i have frozen veggies. The general rule is to blanch and shock to halt the enzymes that cause aging even when frozen. With peppers, they're going to be mushy no matter what when freezing. I would hope that blanching makes the process LESS mushy---- it does with other veggies. Most people recommend them being used in dishes where mushiness isn't an issue... chili, stews, soups, sauces. It's up to preference in regards to using them in a salsa. In regards to drying, I'm not saying don't dry any. I dry many varieties. But I never dry an UNRIPE pepper(green). There's just not enough flavor developed, imo, to warrant drying GREEN peppers. Even with say Anaheims(which I LOVE fresh and green), if I was to dry some, I would wait until they turned color before drying. Kevin