Peter's Pickled Peppers

For those who don't know, my husband's name is Peter, and Peter has been obsessed with growing peppers this summer.  Every kind of pepper known to man, we have in our garden.  Of course there have been numerous jokes about Peter picking and pickling peppers throughout this process.  Well he did pick these, but I pickled them.  These are Peperoncini/Pepperoncini/Banana Peppers (usually yellow when jarred but ours ended up fully mature before I could pickle them and they still taste great!) and roasted red peppers.

This was my first experience canning/jarring and it was so easy!  We don't have a pressure canner yet.  I think I want to get one for tomato sauces and things like that but since I was just pickling these I thought water bath canning would be adequate.

The whole process was SO easy and I felt so proud of my little jars when I was done!  When all was said and done I think I had about 10 jars of peppers and it only took a few hours of my afternoon.  We've given a few jars away as gifts and so far the feedback has been great!

Here's the process:

Pickled Peperoncini:

You will need:
Peppers
Canning jars/mason jars
A big pot-think spaghetti
Water
Distilled White Vinegar
Kosher Salt
Bulb of garlic

Instructions:

• Harvest a whole bunch of peperoncini (or purchase at your farmer's market!)
• Slice them into rings and either de-seed or leave some or all seeds depending on how much heat your want
• Boil your jars (I was using 1/2 pint jars) and lids in a pot full of water for about 15 minutes to sanitize
• Remove jars and lids with tongs and set aside
• Empty pot and fill with 1 part water and 3 parts distilled white vinegar, heat to boiling
• Fill jars with peppers and add 1 large peeled clove garlic to each jar and a good sprinkling of kosher salt
• Pour over hot vinegar mixture
• Run a knife down the sides of the jar to release air bubbles
• Secure lids tightly
• Fill your pot with water again, enough to cover the jars
• Gently lower filled jars into the water bath and bring to a boil
• Process in boiling water for 15 minutes
• Remove carefully and you're done!

Roasted Red Peppers:

You will need:

Peppers
Canning jars/mason jars
Some kind of vinegar (white vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar can all be used)
Olive oil
Kosher Salt
Large Pot
Plastic or paper bag

Instructions:

• Boil jars and lids for 15 minutes to sanitize
• Remove jars and lids and set aside
• Clean and dry your peppers
• Place on a baking sheet and put under your broiler at 500 degrees F (or roast on an open flame)
• Roast and rotate them until they are puffed up and BLACK all over-seriously
• Place inside a plastic or paper bag and seal.  They now need to steam for awhile, at least an hour.
• Once your peppers are done steaming (this will make removing the skins easier) take then out of the bag and carefully remove/peel skins over the sink and de-seed.  Try not to rinse them because it takes their flavor away.  Just rinse your hands frequently.
• Place peppers into a clean bowl as you clean and de-seed them
• Pour vinegar over the peppers in the bowl and toss them around
• Salt with kosher salt and toss some more, salt again and toss again
• Now pour a little vinegar into each jar
• Add peppers and remaining pepper juice and vinegar from your bowl to the jars
• Top jars off with olive oil and seal with lids
• Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes 
• Finito!