Pickled Jalapenos!

There is almost nothing that seems more gourmet than eating your own, home grown pickled jalapenos. They are a plant that is more associated with warmer climes, but I have had extraordinary luck growing them for the last 2 years. I treat them just like tomatoes...

I start them inside, at the end of March under either grow lights or fluorescent lights. This gives them a long enough growing season to produce fruits.

I start hardening them off, at the end of April. Hardening off means you are gradually getting them used to being outside, I like to follow the sunny days and start with a few hours a day for a week, graduate to 6 hrs a day for a week, then all day for a week. Eventually you forget to take them in one night because you are out enjoying the good weather, and the process is complete.

Eventually, after much growth vegetatively, small blossoms begin forming

And then they come, descending from the blossoms, just like tomatoes. They start green and ripen to red as the season waxes on, however our season is so short I've only seen a few turn red.

Then I harvest them all, this is the bounty from 2 plants, I got just over 1lb. Now to process the harvest. This was my first canning experience, it took me and 3 friends all day to get 10 jars of anything, so I will not give any advice on this except to say go to this site: Home Canning ...

Sterilize EVERYTHING...

And have lots of helping hands.

These are the five jars of jalapenos beside the pickling mixture, which was:

3 cups apple cider vinegar

3 cups water

3tbsp pepper corn

9 cloves garlic chunked

1tbs seasalt

9 bay leaves

 Here are the cans in the water bath, what fun. I will try canning again, I think it can be quick once you get to know it. And the results are so beautiful, and easy x-mas gifts.

 On a spicy scale of 1 to 10, I think these are at an 8, but lots of people think I'm a wimp when it comes to spice too!

Enjoy