HOW TO MAKE CRISPY PICKLED JALAPENOS

I have struggled to find a recipe to make pickled jalapenos that were nice and crisp.  My pickled jalapenos were mushy and could only be used as a spice, like in chili or some Mexican dish.  I wanted my pickled jalapenos to have a crunchy bite to them.  I wanted to feel the crisp when I bit into it.  Being frugal I could not just toss them out so of course I still used them.  

The last few years I have found a way to make sure they are crunchy and nicely crisp.  I use 2 products, Pickling lime and pickle crisp.  Yeah, I double do it but it works!!

My jalapenos came at a lark this year.  Our friend Wade gave us some pepper plants that he had started from seed.  I think he felt sorry for us because we did not have a good turnout with our own seedlings.  We thought we were getting scotch bonnet peppers but it turned out we got 4 jalapeno pepper plants instead.  There is a joke behind planting seeds, do not drink and label your seeds.  It is funny how things turn out because it turned out that we needed those jalapeno plants because the ones I bought did not do well in the garden.  The ones Wade gave us we put in containers instead of the garden.

I had beautiful jalapenos on my plants yesterday.  Beautiful green and red ones.  For some reason, we have trouble in our area with jalapenos turning that gorgeous red color.  Now I wish I had thought and made a picture of them.  I am telling you they were truly out of this world pretty.

With all these pretty little peppers at my fingertips, I had to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with them.  I still had plenty of Candied Jalapenos on my canning shelves but I only had a few jars of pickled jalapenos and all of those were mushy ones.  With that in mind, it was a no-brainer to pickle these jalapenos.

When using pickling lime you have to soak your vegetable for a while, in this case, it was jalapenos.  You can soak them whole but I decided to slice them and soak them this way.  

After cutting the jalapenos you will need to make your pickling lime water and soak your jalapenos for at least 12 hours.  Overnight is really good.

Make sure you keep them down in the brine.

.... And 12 hours later you need to rinse the jalapenos slices at least 3 times.

To pickle the jalapenos I use my Basic Pickle Brine.  Which is 1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt. Bring the brine to a boil.

Put the jalapeno slices in sterilized jars.

Add your brine.

Add lids and rings finger tight to your jars and process 10 minutes.

CRISPY PICKLED JALAPENOS

Ingredients

• 2 pounds jalapenos
• 1/2 cup pickling lime
• 8 cups water

For Brine

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups white vinegar
• 4 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt
• 10 garlic cloves (optional)

Directions

• Wash and slice the jalapenos.  
• Make pickling lime water by adding pickling lime and 8 cups water in a large bowl.  Mix well.  
• Add jalapenos to pickling lime and weigh down overnight (at least 12 hours).
• After 12 hours, rinse jalapenos slices really well, at least 3 times.  
• Make pickling brine.
• Add peppers to sterilized jars, add pickle crisp to each jar (see the direction on the pickle crisp container to know how much) then add pickling brine.  Put on lids and rings.
• Process half pints for 10 minutes and pints for 15 minutes.  When time is up turn off the heat and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before taking the jars out of the canner. 
• Take out of the water and allow to cool for 24 hours.  All jars should seal during this time period.

Now the waiting begins because for the pickle flavor to develop your jars need to sit for at least 6 weeks.  If you can wait longer they just get better with time.

Happy Friday!

ENJOY!