Pickled Peppers

One of the biggest fights the Man of the House and I ever got in was over hot sauce. I made this beautiful crab and fava bean risotto. I pulled the crab, and made stock with the shells, I painstakingly double peeled the fava beans. It was a beautiful subtle risotto that just tasted like spring, and it was lovely.

Until my man put tabasco on it. All hell broke loose. I may have over reacted.

But I will still call it a maybe.

But here’s the thing of it, I never grew up with spicy food. I never grew up with hot sauce and, while I like a little bit of heat, and I do, I also know that your body doesn’t read spice as a taste it reads it as pain. So I’m hesitant to believe that it makes a dish taste better. Especially when it is laden with vinegar. But, I can also appreciate that I am a bit of a purist, and maybe obsessively sometimes. Maybe not everybody needs to think exactly like me and taste everything exactly like me all the time.

Maybe.

The Man of the House still makes fun of me for my freak out. And that was years ago. So this year, amid my pickling-or-canning-everything-in-sight-frenzy that I’ve been on I thought I would prove a point and pickle peppers.

Spicy! Vinegar! Good girlfriend points! Yes!

I have to say, I’m not sure these taste good yet, it takes a couple months to tell, this is a tentative recipe, but man, I could just hang these on my walls they are beautiful, truly. All these amazing reds and yellows, on looks alone I might be converted to spicy food. So we’ll see if it goes that far, in the meantime I’m just happy to look at these fiery jars while their sealed.

Pickled Peppers

1L Vinegar

6cups Water

1 tbsp Peppercorns

2 tsp Fennel Seeds

2 tsp Coriander Seeds

1 Clove per Jar

2 lbs Good quality fresh peppers

4 1liter jars

Preheat your oven to 375F

Wash your jars very well and put them on a baking tray.

Wash all the peppers very carefully- I had an earwig come out of one of mine!

Slice the peppers however you’d like or keep them whole- just make sure you wear gloves while you do this, or be careful not to touch your face for a few hours afterwards, man oh man will your fingers burn your eyes.

Put the peppers into the jars- not quite all the way up to the top

Meanwhile, bring all the other ingredients up to a boil.

Carefully, using a canning funnel if you have one, pour the liquid over the jars, being cautious not to get any on the rims of the jars.

Put the lids on the jars, and then gently put the screw tops on, not screwing them to tightly. Put them into the oven for 5 minutes, and then take them out and let them cool. They should all pop shut in about 5-10 minutes.

Let the pickles work their magic for at least 6 weeks before opening them up.

These should keep for at least 6 months.