What to do with a bumper crop of hot peppers?

[freemotion]

I've only used homegrown cayenne in the past, and decided to grow jalapenos for my mom for salsa, and I chose a mild-to-medium (according to the sign at the greenhouse!) Hot Portugal pepper. They are loving our strange weather, and I have lots coming in.

I have no clue what to do with them!

In desperation, I fermented a bunch of the Hot Portugal. I will be making salsa with the jalapenos. I will dry and powder the cayennes.

What else can I do with them? Can I use some in place of chili powder in chili recipes? If so, how do I know how much to use, and do I dry and powder them? Chop and freeze? Can?

Ideas and recipes, please!

 

[PamsPride]

My mom buys this home canned hot pepper stuff. She swears by it! She pays like $6 for a pint. It has oil, peppers, garlic, and I am not sure what else. She puts in on crackers and uses it as a spread. It is from a local resturant around here....Abruzzi's Cafe 422. The guy sells it at the local craft shows.
I googled it and this sure sounds like the right recipe!

Hot Peppers di Abruzzi

15 medium to large Banana Peppers (sweet or hot)
1 pint extra virgin olive oil
1 quart white vinegar
1 quart water
5 cloves of garlic (smashed)
cup of salt
2 tablespoons chopped oregano

Ingredients below are optional
Black olives
Carrots (thinly sliced)

Slice peppers in inch cross sections.

Mix all ingredients in non-metallic bowl and place in refrigerator. Stir once or twice daily for at least 5 days. Usually they taste better after a week or so.

I would bet that any type of firm vegetable like cauliflower, fresh green beans, or green tomatoes would be pretty good prepared the same way.


The kind she gets does not have carrots or black olives in it.

 

[Henrietta23]

If my jalapenos had survived I was hoping to make homemade poppers out of them. Never got so far as to finding a recipe though. I was hoping to freeze them.

 

[me&thegals]

How about pickled? Then, I use them in recipes through the year. Or dried and hung in clumps for decoration. Or made into pepper jelly, which we love over black-eyed peas and brown rice

Hot Pepper Garlic Jellyrecipezaar.com
1 cup hot peppers, chopped (habaero, jalapeno, cayennewhatever is available)
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
to cup garlic, chopped
1 cups white vinegar
6 cups sugar
1 packet Certo (or other liquid pectin)

Directions
1. Begin by putting my jars and rings in a big pot of water on the stove and bring to a low boil.
2. Leave them boiling slightly till you are ready for them.
3. Have your jar flats ready on the counter along with a damp rag to wipe the rims of your jars after filling.
4. Put peppers, green pepper, garlic, vinegar and sugar in a large pot and mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Boil for 5- 6 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add Certo and stir. Pour into 1/2 pint jars. As soon as you fill a jar wipe the rim, put a flat in the ring and twist onto jar and invert jar on cloth towel to seal (heat from jar, ring and jelly should seal it).
6. Leave them on the counter for a while to finish sealing. If you notice the peppers settling just give the jar a little shake every once in a while. After they have cooled and sealed (you will not be able to push down on the flat at all) you can turn them over and tighten the rings again and you're done!

**NOTE FROM CHEF** One packet of liquid Certo will work just fine, the jelly will "looser". I actually prefer it with one packet myself.

Pickled Hot Peppersallrecipes.com
1 pounds banana peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound jalapeno peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
pound Serrano peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
6 cups vinegar
2 cups water
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped

Place the banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, and Serrano peppers into a large pot. Add the vinegar, water, garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle peppers into sterile jars, and fill to the top with the liquid, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Tap jars on the counter to remove air bubbles. Place two piece lids on the jars. Place jars in the rack of a large, canning pan, and fill with enough water to cover the jars completely. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Refrigerate jars after opening.

 

[patandchickens]

Pickling is always good, at least if you use a lot of pickled hot peppers in your life (I do) or know someone who does.

I keep meaning to investigate what you'd need to do to create a shelf-safe canned product from pureed hot peppers plus vinegar, i.e. a very simple vinegar-type hot sauce. That might be a good use for a surplus.

Beyond that, dry 'em of course; and/or freeze them.

It's usually safer to use hot peppers in chopped or minced form, because bits of all different individual peppers get all mixed together that way so that the result is a lot more predictable than playing "hot pepper roulette" -- you know, the way some individual peppers are a whole big lot hotter than others and you don't know til you find out the hard way

I may only get enough jalapenos for 1 jar of pickled peppers this year, but by gum I *will* get that much, which is more than most other people around here can say. (I've got them in containers on my very hot sunny front deck). I wish I had your problem

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Javamama]

How long could you keep the pickled ones in the refrigerator?
I canned a mix of banana/jalapenos and the are mushy, but the flavor is wonderful. I decided that's fine as what DH and I really like is the flavor and since we put them on sandwiches and pizza, we really don't even notice the mush. But it would be nice to have some crisp ones in the fridge for salads.

 

[patandchickens]

You mean fresh pickled, not waterbath-processed?

I dunno, but my mother and I regularly keep fresh (unprocessed) pickled beets in the fridge for, lordy, I dunno, 4-6 months? with no discernable sign of spoilage. That's with the produce washed well and then *boiling* pickling liquid poured over it in a more-or-less-sterilized jar.

When waterbath-processed, the thinner fleshed peppers do tend to get a bit soft and floppy (commercial pickled peppers do too!), but I've had good luck so far with thicker walled things like jalapenos staying reasonably firm.

I wonder if there is a method of salting or alum-ing them before pickling to keep them crisper? Dunno, never really looked into it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Javamama]

Yeah, fresh, not water bathed. 4-6 months sounds pretty good to me. Cool.

 

[Beekissed]

Pam's talking about hot pepper butter and its the only thing I grow hot peppers for now. Its the greatest sandwich spread and you can add it to soups and other dishes. Breakfast isn't complete without me using it on my eggs or potatoes!

Long ago I posted the recipe for it on here somewhere. It makes great gifts and it lasts simply forever. You can make it mild or as hot as you want to by mixing sweet banana peppers in the batch.

If I ever had an addiction, its hot pepper butter. Nothing taste as good without it!

 

[Javamama]

Oh my, why do I suddenly want that so much more now that it's called hot pepper butter? Onto the to do list it goes...