There is a 'Harvest' forum here with incredibly experienced people. As well, there is a site with excellent information

National Center for Home Food Preservation

My guess is that unprocessed peppers, a low acid food, sitting at room temperature may have some risk.

Any canning done these days are hot-water bath. Just because our grandparents did it different, doesn't make it safe today.

I remember making chili sauce and just turning the jars upside down so they'd seal. They always sealed, and that's how it was always done. This method isn't recommended any longer.

I'm not sure about peppers, if they have to have the hot water bath or not.

I sterilize my jars and lids by simmering them upside down in a large roasting pan.

Susan, if you use tongs, and rotate the bottles (laying down) so even the side with the airbubble can get really hot and submerged, and thus, sterilized, I would think, that would be ok.

Were these peppers eaten or just for decoration? Remember "decorative" bottles of peppers, garlic, other veggies that just sort of sat on counters and window sills. SIL had a fancy bottle with some sort of oil, a few sprigs of maybe rosemary and a generous amount of super coarse saly. The salt never dissolved in the oil and bottle was on same line as a snow globe... you shook it up and watched as the salt crystals settled back down to bottom. Seem to remember warnings when "infused" things were the fad... something about "wet" things being a safety issue? NO specifics on this are coming to mind, but sure info is out there.

It's for consumption, not decoration. The sherry is poured onto fish, or into soup, or whatever.

This isn't canning, strictly speaking. I know that no cooking/processing is involved. Sherry is 18% alcohol, and I'm guessing that's what makes the end result safe.

The recipe from the TLP Test Kitchen in Charleston reads, " Combine peppers and sherry in a clean sterilized jar and let sit for several weeks."

I have tongs and big pots, Moni. That'll work.

When I do any canning I use jars specifically made for canning that are sealed with a metal lid. They are made to withstand the hot temperatures of a hot water bath and won't crack or break. Canning has become more strict since I first helped my mom 60 years ago. She used melted wax to seal her jars and no hot water baths. We didn't die, obviously, but I remember throwing stuff out that had gone bad.

I remember the melted wax was used to seal jars of jams and jellies.

I would not can them that way. My Ball canning book says for canning green peppers it takes, vinegar, salt and water and you boil the peppers for 3 minutes plus you only can them in pint jars and then you must pressure can them at ten pounds pressure for 35 minutes.

Sue

Alisande, rather than guess if your wine will safely preserve the peppers, why not run it by Dave in the Harvest Forum as Lucille suggested. He's taken enough classes on safe food preservation I suspect he will know. I don't. The sherry itself has a shelf life once opened depending on which type, I don't know what the peppers at room temperature would do....when its a gift, I want to know.

Okay, I posted at the Harvest Forum, thanks!

One recipe said the peppers have to sit in the sherry for a few weeks, but if you want to hurry the process you can pre-cook the peppers in vinegar first. I'd rather not do that; it would surely alter the taste.

I have been canning for a number of years now and one of the best tips I heard from a master canner was to run the jars through the dishwasher then heat them in the oven at 225 for 15 minutes.

"Jarden the manufacturer of Ball, Kerr, and Bernadin canning jars official position (800-240-3340) is oven canning, heating jars in the oven for canning, or using jars to bake is unsafe and not recommended. The jars were not made for this purpose. The unsafe condition is what is call Thermal Shock Breakage. The heat from an oven is a different heat than what is produced in a water bath or pressure canner. The breakage can occur during the heat process inside the oven or outside on the counter as they cool"

When on the farm. it was standard practice to sterilizer jars before filling them for certain canning processes. This meant boil the jars. Put them in pot of boiling water and make sure the inside of the jars are completely filled with boiling water. (Completely immerse the jars in a pot of boiling water.) Boil for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars and immediately add canning contents. It is impossible to keep the outside of the jars sterile because the jars have to be handled. It is important that the interior and rim of the jar be kept sterile. When handling, do not touch near the rim. Tongs are needed to remove the jars from the boiling pot.

Leave room in the boiling pot for manipulating the jars. Its best if you can dump the water out of the jar as you lift it up. An empty hot jar is much safer to handle than one filled with boiling water. (Canning is a hazardous job.)

Alternative:

Pour boiling water into the jar and let it sit for a short while. It doesn't matter whether the outside of the jar has been sterilized, the product is on the inside. Clean is what you want, no germs or microbes on the inside of the container.

Your proposed process is not really canning, but a different kind of preserving. You are preserving the contents in a non-acidic liquid, thus no vinegar. The primary reason for letting something sit for a week or so is to make sure that the flavors have worked their way into the sherry. It doesn't happen quickly.

If you boil the bottles/jars, do not let them touch the bottom of the pan or they may break. They need to be on some sort of rack so that they are no hotspots on the jars if they touch the pan bottom.

You are doing a form of pickling/preserving with the sherry. Just make certain there is plenty of sherry. The more peppers that are in the sherry, the more dilute the alcohol is as a preservative.

I would do the same as Jim, pour boiling water in the jars . I am waiting for my "Cherry Bounce" and it should be ready to taste anytime now after starting in September. Vodka , sugar, and tart cherries. I had asked at the Cooking forum to get their feedback before making it.

Well, I did it! I filled three 10-oz. bottles. I hope it's okay (from the standpoint of releasing pepper flavor into the sherry) to put them in the fridge right away, because that's what I did. Even immediately, one whiff brought back memories of Bermuda.

Thanks for all your helpful input!