Tag Archives: Janet Greene

Harvest Bounty Canning: Banana Peppers

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After getting a canning lesson with Rhonda Dieni, we decided to try canning ourselves. You can see the slits in the ends of each pepper. This ensures the solution gets inside the peppers.

My husband loves canned hot peppers. After getting a canning lesson from Rhonda Dieni a few weeks ago, we decided to try some canning ourselves. I started calling around to my favorite farmers to find out who had some banana peppers. Gardengate had a bumper crop of peppers this year so I got 9kg of banana peppers. I found a used water-bath canner and presser canner on the internet. I drove all over the city looking for canning jars but everyone was out at this time of year. It really showed me that we have a very active canning community in Kamloops. I finally found a case of 12, 1L jars and ordered two cases of 1/2L jars for pickup later.

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Finding used canning equipment was very easy and cheap. Finding canning jars at this time of year was difficult. You can see the banana peppers from Gardengate in the top left corner.

I have found a great book for preserving food written by Janet Greene called Putting Food By. It is not a great idea to alter canning recipes because canning is more of a science than an art form. Nevertheless, I seem to alter just about every recipe I use. This recipe is based on Pickled Hot Peppers or Bell Peppers from the book Putting Food By. If canning is new to you, read the book before trying to can yourself or take a course with someone like Rhonda Dieni.

Hot Banana Peppers
12L of organic banana peppers, slit each end
12 hot red peppers, one for each jar
6c organic white vinegar
6c organic cider vinegar
12c water
12tsp kosher pickling salt
12, 1L mason jars, lids and collars
Wash the peppers well. It is not necessary to core, seed or remove the stems. Slit the end of each pepper. This will let the pickling solution get inside the pepper. Add one hot pepper to the bottom of each jar and pack each jar as full as possible. In a pot mix the vinegar, water and salt and heat just to the boiling point. Do not boil vinegar. Pour the hot solution over the peppers to within 1/2 inch of the jar rim. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remember to adjust the time for your elevation.

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Here are the peppers just out of the hot water bath. I did find canning stressful the first time by myself. I know it will be easier next time.

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Here are the peppers after cooling. I cleaned the jars and removed the metal collars before putting the jars in storage. The jars do not need the collars anymore. If you leave the collars on the jars they can become difficult to remove later.

Updated January 7, 2013: My family has not been very happy with these canned banana peppers. They where soft, mushy and had no zing. The Crock Banana Peppers on the other hand were crisp and wonderful. I did stumble on a way to make the canned banana peppers taste better. Being a frugal householder I reuse pickling juice for the vinegar part of salad dressings. I had a whole jar in the fridge and I just put the canned banana peppers, without the canning juice, into the pickling juice. The canned peppers became more firm and the flavor improved when soaked in the pickling juice for a few days.

Harvest Bounty and Pickling: Crock Pickles

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Now doesn't that look delicious! These cucumbers have been pickling for only three days. We tried them and they are great! This recipe is so easy anyone can make their own pickles.

I have just found a book by Janet Greene called Putting Food By. It is all about preserving food by canning, freezing, pickling, drying, and curing. It includes the newest canning procedures. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it for anyone new to food preserving.

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This is an excellent book on preserving food.

Crock Pickles
This recipe is based on Little Cucumber Crock Pickles found in Putting Food By. This is a very easy recipe for someone new to pickling. I have changed the recipe to be safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. The raw cider vinegar adds some live culture to these pickles.

3-4L organic raw cider vinegar, enough to cover the cucumbers
1/3c local raw honey
1/2c organic whole mustard seeds or 1/4c fermented whole seed mustard
1c sea salt
5kg of organic pickling cucumbers, small and medium size
4-8 heads garden fresh dill flower heads (optional)
4-6 garden fresh grape leaves (optional)
1-2 heads of organic garlic, peeled (optional)
2-3 whole hot red peppers (optional)

Take a clean 10L crock and lay the grape leaves, garlic, hot peppers and dill flower heads on the bottom of the crock. In the crock, mix the salt, honey, mustard seeds and half of the vinegar. Add the well washed cucumbers. Add enough vinegar to cover all the cucumbers. Use a plate and granite stone to weigh down the cucumbers in the solution. Nothing should be exposed to air. After a day, pour 1/2c to 1c of sea salt on top of the plate and stone. You can start eating the pickles in just a few days. If you add more pickles later add more salt to the top of the plate and rock.

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Here is the crock with the plate, stone and salt weighing down the pickles in the pickling solution. The more salt you use the longer the pickles will last.

The raw cider vinegar does have a live culture, but I am not sure if the high salt content will kill the live culture. Nevertheless, these crock pickles will not be as nutritious as lacto-fermented pickles. If you are trying to improve your gut health and want to ferment your pickles, here is a recipe for Lacto-Fermented Horseradish Dill Pickles. Eat lacto-fermented pickles within two months or they may go soft.

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These pickles came out of the crock. Making pickles will save money and are better than commercial pickles.

Homemade pickles will be of better quality than any commercially prepared pickles. Making your own pickles will help you avoid additives that are found in many brands of commercial pickles. Also, you will produce less garbage and less recycling. If you are interested in reducing your garbage and recycling please read Solidarity… Of a Sort.

Frugal Tip: After you finish eating the pickles, do not throw out the pickling juice. Reuse the pickling juice for the vinegar portion of homemade salad dressing. Pickling juice can also improve the flavor and texture of home canned vegetables.