Red vs green jalapenos for canning

Red vs green jalapenos for canning - Two Green and Three Red Chili Peppers

I'm planning to can some salsa tomorrow and have a recipe picked out (Roasted Tomato-Lime Salsa, from ATK).

The one catch is that it calls for red jalapenos, but I could only find green. I am wondering if it will be a problem to substitute; I am not an experienced canner, and have read various warnings about not deviating from the recipe for safety reasons. I guess my concern is that the green ones might have a different pH due to chemistry changes during ripening.

Will substituting green for red create any food safety issues? Extra credit for a reference. (Note that this question is primarily not about the flavor difference, though feel free to leave a comment.)

food-safetysubstitutionscanningchili-peppers


Best Answer

One difference you'll find is that the sauce is not as hot with the green jalapeños, because fully mature red ones have more capsaicin. However, spiciness does not affect their preservation qualities.

Mature, red peppers have a slightly lower pH than green peppers(paper behind paywall, sorry) -- about 1.0 points lower. However, both are still considered low-acid foods that require additional acidifying (usually using vinegar or lime juice in salsa) in order to be canned safely at atmospheric pressure. I wouldn't expect the difference in pepper acidity to have much of an effect on the final recipe in a salsa that is primarily composed of tomatoes, so I wouldn't adjust the acid in the recipe.



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Can you can red jalapeños?

Red jalapenos are simply green jalape\xf1os that have had longer to ripen. They're hotter and sweeter than green ones. But you can pickle any variety of chili including green jalape\xf1os using my simple pickling process.

Are red jalapeños hotter than green jalapenos?

So red jalape\xf1os are older than green jalape\xf1os. The red ones can be pretty hot, especially if they have a lot of striations, but they are also sweeter than the green.

Can you use green jalapenos instead of red?

Red jalape\xf1os may be used in any recipe you'd normally use green jalape\xf1os: salsas, sauces, marinades, braises, stews and even brines.

How do you preserve red jalapeños?

How To Preserve Jalape\xf1os
  • First, sterilize the jars and lids.
  • Second, throughly wash the peppers.
  • Third, chop the peppers into rings. ...
  • Fourth, bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil. ...
  • Next, pack the jars with cut peppers, while also pouring the brine into jars.



    • Red vs Green Jalapeños - What's the Difference?



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