Pints of Pickled Peppers

I wish you could actually pick pickled peppers, but you can't, so Tuesday I spent my evening making my own. I relieved our two pepper plants of their enormous bounty and set about preserving their spicy goodness for colder months.

The Harvest

The pepper are a mix of baby jalapenos and Big Jims.  For whatever reason, our peppers haven't grown to their normal size. Our jalapenos are only hitting about 1-2", while the Big Jims are hitting only 3-4". Big Jims, an Anaheim-style chile often used in Chile Rellenos, often grow to be 7-9". But despite their somewhat diminutive size, both peppers have nice flavor. The jalapenos have a traditionally spicy kick, and the Jims are more on the mild side, with just a hint of heat. I used a simple brine of cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pickling spice.

The Results

Close-up

I think the finished product is really beautiful, and they were incredibly easy to make (the hardest part was waiting for my 4-gallon canner to boil.) And I am already dreaming of ways to use them. I will, of course, use them to top quesadillas or burritos (and in my scrambled eggs), but I am also devising a plan to use them in a queso recipe. I think the acidity that the pickling process adds to the chiles will pair nicely with the rich cheesiness of queso dip.

Oh, and homer was running around the yard when I was shooting the peppers last night, and he was really curious about what I was doing (and also why wasn't I throwing his frisbee).  I just couldn't resist this shot...