More harvest is coming in each day and sometimes it takes some time to find ideas and recipes that fit your family and yet, utilizes all of the harvest of an individual vegetable. It has taken me some time to figure out how I like each of our vegetables preserved for the winter. It is now time to preserve the jalapeño peppers! They are great for a bacon jalapeño dip, but they seem to always be plentiful and how do you store all of the rest of them for winter? I have figured out two ways that make it an amazing winter preserve.
The first is called Cowboy Candy. It is a sweet and sassy relish that works fantastic on so many things. I am not much for spicy, but this is so tasty! We incorporate it into many different dishes when you want a little zip and pizazz! It is great mixed into egg salad, chicken salad, scrambled eggs, or even on top of mashed potatoes. It has just enough heat balanced with a little sweet that it can be a dangerous addition to any meal. Here is the recipe to make it.
Cowboy candy
3 pounds of jalapeño peppers (with just the top, containing the stem, cut off)
2 cups of apple cider vinegar
6 cups of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of celery seed
3 teaspoons of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper.
Remove all stems, slice or chop, you don't need to clean... leave the seeds intact.
*Note: I use the Hand chopper/dicer that I have noted as an affiliate link in this Blog. It is so fast to chop the whole pepper through the chopper that it can be done in no time.
In a large pot bring vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery, salt, garlic powder and Cayenne pepper to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Raise the heat to boiling again and add peppers, return to a hard boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes.
Transfer just the peppers to jars filling 1/4 inch below the rim.
bring syrup back to a full boil for 6 minutes then, fill the jars and water bath half pints for 10 minutes, and15 minutes for pints
*I always have brine left over after filling jars. I place this brine in a jar and water bath with the batch. This will give you a great marinade for meats that is shelf stable.
The second method that I love to prepare the jalapeños is by making a fermented hot sauce. This hot sauce is lacto-fermented, so it is not only a great hot sauce, but it has a lot of health benefits that give your gut flora a wonderful boost. Lacto-fermenting is so easy to do, and it's done the same way as any lacto-fermented veggie. I wrote this blog here which will share with you the benefits and the how and why you should do it.
To make the hot sauce you would ferment the peppers using the same method as the veggies. I take the whole washed pepper, with the stem, and no need to clean out the seeds. To a fermenting jar, I add 10 or 25 cloves of fresh garlic, 10 or 15 black peppercorns and then fill with peppers, add your saltwater brine. After the fermentation I just store the whole jar on the shelf in a cool dark place. When I need hot sauce, I dump the jars contents, including the brine into the blender, and blend until smooth. Then I pour into bottles to store. It will be shelf stable in a cool dark place and I put my working bottle in the refrigerator to store.
By making both hot sauce and cowboy candy, you’re not only preserving the fresh heat and flavor of your summer jalapeños, but also adding versatility to your pantry for the colder months ahead. Whether you’re spicing up a dish or looking for a sweet kick, these preserved jalapeños are sure to bring a taste of warmth and home-grown goodness to your table all winter long.
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