How do I pickle fresh chilli?!


Question: I have white, brown, and apple cidar vinegar. I only have normal salt, and olive oil. Are there any recipes that I can use to pickle them because I am up to my neck in red hot chillis! Yum!


Answers: I have white, brown, and apple cidar vinegar. I only have normal salt, and olive oil. Are there any recipes that I can use to pickle them because I am up to my neck in red hot chillis! Yum!

Pickled chili peppers

Ingredients
Brine:
2 lbs. (1 gallon) fresh, ripe, chili peppers
1 gallon water
2 cups of sea or kosher salt

Marinade:
1 cup water
5 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried thyme
10 whole allspice
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds
12 black peppercorns
12 white peppercorns
1 tsp. whole mustard seeds
2 juniper berries
6 whole cloves

Herb Oil Garnish:
4 dried bay leaves
12 whole, unpeeled, garlic cloves, parboiled for 2 minutes
2 carrots, par boiled for 2 minutes and sliced into 1/8-inch coins
6 peeled shallots
12 Tbsp. virgin olive oil

Method
Wash the peppers, trim the stems to a stub and prick each pepper twice with a fork on opposite sides.

Bring the water to a boil, immediately remove it from the heat, and dissolve the salt in it to make a brine. Let it cool.

Combine the washed peppers and the cooled brine in a glass, plastic, stainless steel, or other non reactive container. Place a china plate on top of the peppers to hold them down in the brine. Use 2 if necessary. Soak the peppers in the brine for a minimum of 12 hours.

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a heavy bottom stainless steel sauce pan. Bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Wash and sterilize 8-12 pint-size canning jars and lids. In each sanitized, hot jar place 1/4 of a dried bay leaf, 1 garlic clove, several carrot slices, 1/2 of a shallot and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then pack the peppers into the jars. Pour marinading liquid into each jar leaving at least 1/2-inch of head space from the top of the liquid to the rim.

Use a boiling water bath method to seal the jars and process the peppers for 5 minutes. Store the jars in a cool, dark place for 3-4 weeks before using.

Refrigerate unused portions after you’ve opened a jar.

I grow a few & just add them to my pickles if i don't have enough to cann.

Pickling Chili Peppers

Chile peppers are usually preserved in salt and vinegar. Adding sugar or honey produces a more mellow tasting pickle. Adding spices gives additional flavour.

* Salt: Used to extract moisture from some vegetables, which would otherwise dilute the vinegar and cause the pickle to ferment, and the vegetables to toughen. Use cooking salt rather than table salt; the latter contains a higher iodine content which can discolor the vegetables (it makes them darker).
* Vinegar: Use bottled vinegar's (malt, distilled, wine, cider, spiced etc); draught vinegar's are not strong enough. White distilled or cider vinegar's of 5 percent acidity (50 grain) are recommended. Use cold vinegar for crisp vegetables and boiling vinegar for softer ones. The vinegar should cover the vegetables by at least an inch (2.5cm). For a home-made spiced vinegar, boil 1oz (25g) of mixed pickling spice in 1 pint (600ml) of vinegar for 5 minutes. Strain when cold.
* Spices: Use whole spices, powdered ones will make the vinegar cloudy. Mixed pickling spice consists of equal amounts of stick cinnamon, allspice berries, cloves, mace and peppercorns. Extras can include root ginger, celery seeds etc.
* Pre-cooking: Some recipes require the chile peppers to be blanched before pickling, some don't.
* Pans: Use unchipped enamel, aluminum or stainless steel pans. Copper, brass and iron pans will react with the vinegar, giving an off taste.
* Sealing: Jars must be sterilized and well sealed. Metal lids will corrode on contact with the vinegar. Kilner jars are recommended.
* Maturing: A minimum of 2 to 4 weeks maturing time is recommended. Crisp pickles will tend to soften after about 3 months.

you can also dry them.. I grew a boatload one year and that's what I did, you get a needle and long thread and string the peppers together, leaving a bit of space between. Either before or after you string them, cut a hole on both ends so air can flow. doesn't have to be a big hole. hang them in a warm dry room(everyone has at least one room that seems to be warmer than the others.) They will dry in no time and then you can crush them and use any way you want to. My mother took some of my dried peppers and then pickled them and that worked too.





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