Canning Hot Peppers
This is my recipe for canning peppers.
- I bring 3 gal vinegar, 1 gal water and 1 lb canning salt to a boil.
- Let cool down a bit then pour into 1 qrt large mouth with peppers, garlic and pickling spices.
- Seal lid and let sit for 2 weeks before eating.
I have been doing it this way for more than 10 yrs now and never had a problem. But I've been doing some reading and I'm a little concerned about my process. All kinds of recipes say I should put my filled jars into a tub of water and boil for 15 minutes. I just want to be safe and not get anyone sick. Any advice would be appreciated.
Best Answer
The right way to know if your recipe is safe is to use a recipe from a trusted source. What you're doing is pickling, so just search for pickled pepper recipes. For example, I quickly found this one:
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/pickled_hot_peppers.html
The NCHFP is one of the big authorities on canning in the US, so you can certainly trust that. You can add spices, and if desired add more salt or vinegar, but you don't want to use less - it might become unsafe.
And follow their process - there are reasons for everything. For example, all the boiling and details about how to fill the jars help guarantee that you get a good seal, so your jars will stay safe long-term. What you're doing is really prone to bad safety issues. For example, things could get colonized by bacteria while you let them cool, then you'd seal it in the jar and let it go to town. Or your seals could fail. You may get lucky for a long time, but not everyone will every time.
You should be able to find plenty of similar things from other universities, if you need, or you can buy an authoritative cookbook/reference.
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What is the best way to preserve hot peppers?
Boil water and vinegar (white vinegar or cider vinegar works well) using a one-to-one ratio. Flavor the brine with sea salt and sugar to balance the flavor; boil for 2 minutes. Pour over the peppers, cover and keep refrigerated for up to a month.How do you keep hot peppers crisp when canning?
Create brine from 1 gallon boiling water and 1/2 cup kosher salt. Allow the brine to boil down for 20 minutes before adding the peppers. Refrigerate the brine and peppers for one to two days. Remove the peppers from the brine and rinse them well under a cool tap.Do hot peppers need to be pressure canned?
Pickled peppers, which can be canned using a water bath canner, also work on my favorite sandwich, but just plain canned peppers are a lot better in my opinion. Canning plain peppers require a pressure canner, since there's no added acidity from the pickling brine.Can peppers be water bath canned?
You may can peppers (hot or sweet). You can can them, pickled, or plain. Pickled peppers can be water-bathed or steam-canned. Unpickled plain ones must be pressure canned as per the directions below.Harvesting \u0026 Canning Hot \u0026 Sweet Peppers
More answers regarding canning Hot Peppers
Answer 2
I remember my grandmother telling me the last boiling when making jam was to get a better seal. The resources I found seem to indicate that the last boiling also serves to remove some bacteria or parasites, but is primarily for sealing. In general I would think that if your process otherwise is clean enough it the additional boiling would only serve to give the peppers a longer shelf life (due to fewer bacteria that can develop as quickly and change the taste, and obviously better sealing = less air, which adds to the effect).
I don't think there are any health problems as long as you don't cater to people of very poor health, sell commercially, and the taste doesn't seem off. However, if you are experiencing a number of not properly sealed jars by the end of your process, it might be worth giving the after-boiling to try and see if it reduces the number and doesn't affect taste.
However, I am not a professional, and especially not at health, so take this with a grain of salt. The resources that I found and mentioned above:
Is the double boiling canning procedure really necessary?
foodinjars.com/2013/07/new-to-canning-start-here-boiling-water-bath-canning/
southernfood.about.com/od/canning/qt/canning-jars.htm
localkitchenblog.com/2009/02/15/canning-in-a-boiling-water-bath/
(With pictures):
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Images: Bence Szemerey, Ivan Torres, Artem Beliaikin, Jaouad JK