Annie, It's the same in our house. Everyone loved it for a while then I guess got tired of it. Now that I have a use for it, I'll probably make some more this year just to have on hand for salad dressing.

I made about 12 quarts of roasted pepper spread. I also used roasted garlic and roasted onions. Everything was pureed and I even added some balsamic vinegar. It goes great as a pasta sauce, and a spread on crusty bread, as a 'tomatoless' pizza, and also added to meatloaf, and many other dishes. Mine was based on the recipe, but I also used rosemary in mine as well as a few other herbs.

No problem when the recipe when used from a reliable source Malna. That way we know it has been tested and approved. But when used from an unreliable source as in this case, there is no way for us to know that unless we also just happen to know of the other recipe. Bottom line - source counts. In some cases so do the details left out of this recipe. Otherwise, as you said, there is clearly some sort technique error here that has resulted in a density problem and a potential heat penetration problem. That heat penetration problem is only increased when oil is involved. If the OP ended up with 3 pints as now indicated but still had lots of brine left over then the most likely error was in the amount of peppers used. Excess peppers results in over-packed jars (too many solids and too little liquids). Safety-wise the peppers should have been spread out in to more jars so that the brine was uniformly distributed and used up. If that meant 4 pints or even 4 1/2 pints that's fine. But I can't imagine how there could have been enough brine left over to do 3x as many peppers (12 lbs.) unless some severe measuring mistakes were made. Either way, either cause, they are very likely under-processed and not safe for long-term shelf storage IMO. And now more than 24 hours old so too late for re-processing so the choice boils down to how acceptable is the degree of risk? Dave This post was edited by digdirt on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 14:07

Diane, as mentioned before, everything is a dollar. With your sense of humor I thought you'd appreciate the fact that I can no longer let me husband accompany me into a DT. As he places each item on the belt he asks, "how much is this?" The first time the clerk responds, "everything's a dollar." With subsequent items, the clerk gets annoyed, and seedpapa thinks he's being very funny. It is just soooo annoying. Diane, included in the junk part of Dollar Tree is a lot of stuff aimed at kiddos. Brace yourself. I generally steer clear of the food aisle, so thanks SGM for the heads up. I'll have to stop in and look for red peppers. I have also purchased wonderful red peppers, imported from Italy, in Big Lots, on a catch as catch can basis. They aren't a dollar, but they are cheaper than Wal Mart. Often, they are the kind packed in oil, a method not available to us home canners. Tasty nonetheless. Dawn, we drove by the DT distribution center last night on our way back from Houston. Once again I had seedpapa honk at you. I told him I knew you must be getting tired of all this late night and early morning honking. Hopefully, this will be the last trip to Houston for a long while, but I will be going to Dallas next week. Keep your ears out! Seedmama