Fresh Pickled Jalapenos are better than store bought

[Scarpozzi]

My wife grew a ton of peppers and they're really killing it now late in the season. She had a few bowls of sweet peppers, banana peppers, and Jalepenos...I mixed some water/vinegar/sugar/salt together....popped it in the microwave poured into the jar with the peppers and boom!


I feel like I should have been doing this all along! I already had some on halfa sammich....then tried some with a packet of tuna and a little mayo. Next, I need to get some stadium cheese, chips, and make some football-style nachos. (I'll use them with grilled chicken/avocado nachos later on)

 

[snoopy7548]

Pics of wife?

 

[UsandThem]

My grandmother used to can everything. She maintained a fairly decent garden in her back yard since I could remember.

Fresh strawberries, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, green beans, etc.

She then would make pickles and can the green beans, and give them to family. We used to always have a whole food pantry filled with what she canned, and they were always so much better than store bought stuff. I would have likely done the same thing as I got older, but looking back on how much time she spent doing that stuff, I'd rather grab veggies from the store because I'm lazy.

Way different times for sure.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Pics of wife?

 

[Scarpozzi]

My grandmother used to can everything. She maintained a fairly decent garden in her back yard since I could remember.

Fresh strawberries, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, green beans, etc.

She then would make pickles and can the green beans, and give them to family. We used to always have a whole food pantry filled with what she canned, and they were always so much better than store bought stuff. I would have likely done the same thing as I got older, but looking back on how much time she spent doing that stuff, I'd rather grab veggies from the store because I'm lazy.

Way different times for sure.

Home-Canned green beans are the same way.... Half-runners are much better than whatever they sell in the store and I think it all comes down to the batch size. When they can beans on a production line, they just cook longer in the process. Beans you home can only cook 25 mins or so to seal the cans. When you reheat the cans, you really should cook them 30 more minutes or longer. That makes them tender enough, but they aren't mushy and don't have that canned veggie taste.

My parents had a garden ever since I was a kid. Covid got my wife more interested in growing food this season because of the supply issues we saw in March-May here. By mid-May we had quite a lot planted. 3-4 weeks later, we put up 75 quarts of beans and maybe 70 quarts of tomatoes a month after that. It doesn't cost that much money to buy tomatoes or green beans, but the quality of what you buy isn't in question when you do it yourself. I've been using the canned tomatoes with coconut milk for awesome curry dishes and making pasta sauces. And thanks to me talking about it, I'm going to open a can of beans to go with whatever we have for dinner tonight. 😎

 

[bbhaag]

Pickled jalapenos are fantastic. My wife does the same thing with the ones we grow. If you ever get the chance I'd recommend trying some pickled banana peppers. We did that for the first time this year and they taste phenomenal especially on wraps, lunch meat sandwiches, and subs.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Pickled jalapenos are fantastic. My wife does the same thing with the ones we grow. If you ever get the chance I'd recommend trying some pickled banana peppers. We did that for the first time this year and they taste phenomenal especially on wraps, lunch meat sandwiches, and subs.

Our banana peppers came in earlier and haven't been producing as much, so I didn't have much to work with. There's one in that jar. For some reason, one of our jalepeno plants produces both red and green peppers. It certainly makes the jar more colorful. I haven't compared them in flavor yet.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Our Jalapeño plants did well this year. I made cowboy candy with them, froze a bunch. Hopefully it will thaw properly.
Jalapeño start green then turn red as the ripen. That’s why you have two different colors.

cowboy candy is simply jalapeños, sugar, some water and some apple cider vinegar. Basically cooked jalapeños in a light syrup. Put it on a cracker with cream cheese.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Our Jalapeño plants did well this year. I made cowboy candy with them, froze a bunch. Hopefully it will thaw properly.
Jalapeño start green then turn red as the ripen. That’s why you have two different colors.

cowboy candy is simply jalapeños, sugar, some water and some apple cider vinegar. Basically cooked jalapeños in a light syrup. Put it on a cracker with cream cheese.

I just looked up Cowboy Candy. I'm about to do another batch...I may try a jar of those next.

I've got a bunch of sweet bell peppers I want to pickle, but they're bigger ones. I gotta figure out the best way to slice them. Jalepenos are easy....just rings. I'm not sure the bigger peppers will enter or exit the jar easily that way, but will be easier to snag with a fork.

 

[Zeze]

Recipe please? I'm gonna try it this week.

 

[balloonshark]

I'm a big fan of Jalapenos. Just the perfect amount of heat for my taste. The ones you have look delicious.

I had a co-worker who would bring home canned peppers to work every day. Not sure what type they were but they were yellow and cut into long strips. We would put them on our meat and cheese sandwiches. I liked them best on my PB&J which they thought was strange.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Recipe please? I'm gonna try it this week.

The pickled jalepenos is easy. Fill a jar with sliced jalepenos & anything else you want to pickle..and used about 12-14 jalepenos (I threw a green onion in for kicks) 1 cup of white vinegar + 1 cup of water + 4 tablespoons of sugar + 1 tablespoon of Kosher salt. The real advantage you have is you can slice them thin or go thicker, like i did. I always feel like the ones you buy aren't substantial enough.

I nuked the water/vinegar mix for 2-3 minutes until it was boiling and dissolved the solids into the solution before pouring over the top. In about 2-3 hours in the fridge, the jalepenos will change color as the viinegar soaks in.


Fanatical Meat may have a different version, but the Cowboy Candy recipe I found was similar, but uses Apple Cider Vinegar, more sugar, and cooks the jalepenos, likely to remove some of their heat:

• 1/2 pound Jalapeno peppers (about 10-12 average sized jalapenos)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (optional, for a bit of heat)
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• Other seasonings, as desired. See the discussion below.

Simmer ingredients until sugar dissolves. Add jalapenos to the saucepan and cook for 4 mins.


Both recipes will keep in the fridge for 3 months....or much, much longer if you're a bachelor.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah my technique is more simple.

Dozen or more jalapeño cut into rounds I remove the seeds but not required

Around 1/3 (maybe 1/2) cup of white sugar

Bit of water maybe a few table spoons, amount of water determines how thick the syrup is

Bit of apple cider vinegar a few table spoon worth give or take

Bit of salt.

Put it all in a pan, heat moderately high stir occasionally. Done when the jalapeños look soft and “wilted”. Wife & I prefer the look of the clear syrup. I’ve added other things to it but the look isn’t as good.
We do tend to like simple flavors for snack foods.

**adjust sugar & water to your preference. More sugar equals thicker syrup.
**you do not need much syrup to cook the peppers down

 

[Scarpozzi]

Yeah my technique is more simple.

Dozen or more jalapeño cut into rounds I remove the seeds but not required

Around 1/3 (maybe 1/2) cup of white sugar

Bit of water maybe a few table spoons, amount of water determines how thick the syrup is

Bit of apple cider vinegar a few table spoon worth give or take

Bit of salt.

Put it all in a pan, heat moderately high stir occasionally. Done when the jalapeños look soft and “wilted”. Wife & I prefer the look of the clear syrup. I’ve added other things to it but the look isn’t as good.
We do tend to like simple flavors for snack foods.

**adjust sugar & water to your preference. More sugar equals thicker syrup.
**you do not need much syrup to cook the peppers down

I just realized, the neither cowboy candy recipe appears to have a lot of liquid in it. Are the jalepenos in the jar not covered in syrup or do they cook down enough that you can fit them in a pint jar?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I just realized, the neither cowboy candy recipe appears to have a lot of liquid in it. Are the jalepenos in the jar not covered in syrup or do they cook down enough that you can fit them in a pint jar?

Stuff in the jar are pickled jalapeños not cowboy candy.
You are correct you don’t need much liquid for cowboy candy. You can make more if you wish. If you leave the seeds in the syrup probably would be good with cheese or on a cracker with cream cheese alone.
I eyeball mine, I start with a little sugar & water and add more sugar or water or apple cider vinegar as needed. Melts pretty fast.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Stuff in the jar are pickled jalapeños not cowboy candy.
You are correct you don’t need much liquid for cowboy candy. You can make more if you wish. If you leave the seeds in the syrup probably would be good with cheese or on a cracker with cream cheese alone.
I eyeball mine, I start with a little sugar & water and add more sugar or water or apple cider vinegar as needed. Melts pretty fast.

So when you make Cowboy Candy, you do single-batches and don't store it long term in the fridge? That's why I was asking about the liquid for coverage. If you store it for any amount of time, I would think you'd want it covered in syrup to keep it from 1. drying out and 2. keep oxygen out of the product.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

So when you make Cowboy Candy, you do single-batches and don't store it long term in the fridge? That's why I was asking about the liquid for coverage. If you store it for any amount of time, I would think you'd want it covered in syrup to keep it from 1. drying out and 2. keep oxygen out of the product.

Typically single batches but it lasts a long time before going bad provided it is refrigerated.
Batch I made on Saturday went into the freezer to come out in Christmas Day. Not sure how that will work out but if I remember I’ll post back here.
I’m a little concerned because the sugar mixture didn’t completely freeze at least as of yesterday.
Typically I store it in a Pyrex bowl with a plastic snap on lid.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Here is a small amount I didn’t freeze. This has a little more syrup than normal. Container has thick sides so it’s kind of like those thick glass ice cream Sunday holders where you can’t get your spoon to the bottom.

 

[kt]

Try pickle fresh green tomatoes. We got tons of tomatoes this year that we couldn't eat fast enough. We ended up picking all the green tomatoes that are still on the vine and put them in a brine of white vinegar, salt, mustard seed, coriander seed and star anise. We eat them as snack or on the side when we have sandwiches. Our kids love them too.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Try pickle fresh green tomatoes. We got tons of tomatoes this year that we couldn't eat fast enough. We ended up picking all the green tomatoes that are still on the vine and put them in a brine of white vinegar, salt, mustard seed, coriander seed and star anise. We eat them as snack or on the side when we have sandwiches. Our kids love them too.

Thanks. Awesome idea. We have a bunch on the vine.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Here is a small amount I didn’t freeze. This has a little more syrup than normal. Container has thick sides so it’s kind of like those thick glass ice cream Sunday holders where you can’t get your spoon to the bottom.

View attachment 31601

I just hadn't gathered enough together until today. We're supposed to get cold temps next week, so I collected about 12-14 jalapenos this afternoon, along with about 25 bell peppers of various sizes. I'm going to pickle the bell peppers tomorrow when I feel like doing all the work washing/cutting them.

Tonight, I made some cowboy candy for the first time. I ended up making enough syrup that the 12-14 jalapenos + syrup filled maybe 3/4 of a pint jar. I tried a few and they were a decent balance of mellow heat and sugar. Definitely something I'll remember for next year.

It's crazy how many peppers we had come in late. I may look into doing some hoop greenhouses and see if we can start them earlier next year.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I just hadn't gathered enough together until today. We're supposed to get cold temps next week, so I collected about 12-14 jalapenos this afternoon, along with about 25 bell peppers of various sizes. I'm going to pickle the bell peppers tomorrow when I feel like doing all the work washing/cutting them.

Tonight, I made some cowboy candy for the first time. I ended up making enough syrup that the 12-14 jalapenos + syrup filled maybe 3/4 of a pint jar. I tried a few and they were a decent balance of mellow heat and sugar. Definitely something I'll remember for next year.

It's crazy how many peppers we had come in late. I may look into doing some hoop greenhouses and see if we can start them earlier next year.

My wife picked one yesterday and we still have 4-6 more coming. Crazy how long they’ve grown.

 

[Exterous]

Props to putting in the time and effort. We haven't been that happy with the quality of jalapeños we can get at our grocery store but GFS has surprisingly good ones. Basically good enough that we don't want to go through the effort ourselves