Pickled peppers-hot or not
 

This is a really easy recipe and a good way to store your excess peppers for winter.You can make these with hot peppers or with sweet banana peppers, or pepperoncini.



Wearing rubber gloves, cut hot peppers into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Put them into clean canning jars, filling jars about 3/4 full (peppers expand during pickling). In a small saucepan, put your canning lids (flats) to match your jars in a few inches of water and bring them to a boil.

When you've finished slicing, make the following brine solution, one times this recipe should be enough for about 4-6 pints of peppers. Make this in a non-reactive pan (stainless steel, enamelware, or non-chipped nonstick).

1 1/2 quarts water
2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup of pickling salt

bring this to a boil, stirring occasionally until salt is dissolved. Using a ladle, fill jars to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar.

Now you can seal your jars one of two ways...before placing the lid on the jar, take a couple of jars and microwave them for about 2 minutes, then place the sterilized lid on the jar. It will seal and keep on it's own when it cools. OR put all the lids on the jars and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes. (I do it by microwaving and they work great!)

These make great gifts and you can pack them as mixed varieties or sort them out and process them by variety. We have jars of "big Jim" "serrano" "habanero mix" and "jalapeno" currently waiting to be put away.
Let them sit 3 weeks to pickle before using so that they taste right.