Hot or not so Hot Pepper Relish

Today it was back to the kitchen for more fun with the peppers and I found a recipe for Pepper Relish. Initially I was a little leary, I like to taste my peppers and not have my tongue numbed by the heat.. My solution was a combination of jalapeno peppers and banana peppers, about half and half, with just a few bhut jolokia peppers, aka ghost peppers, tossed in for a little real heat. No matter what kind of peppers you use, you should have 2 quarts (8 cups) of peppers when they are cleaned and chopped.

Here is a chart that will help you choose your peppers. Peppers are rated on what is called the Scoville Scale. The higher the Scoville number the hotter the pepper.

http://www.eatmorechiles.com/Scoville_Heat.html

Peppers can vary in heat depending on a lot of different factors. The biggest factors are how mature they were when they were picked and how many seeds are left or not left in the peppers when you clean them. Don’t get me wrong here, a hot pepper is a hot pepper, no matter how you slice it or how many seeds you leave in or take out.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Peppers naturally contain capsaicin that gives the pepper heat. When you are cleaning hot peppers you will get capsaicin on your hands or gloves. It is very important not to touch your face, eyes or any place else you don’t want to be irritated while you are cleaning the peppers. Wearing waterproof gloves is a good idea here. 

Once the peppers are cleaned and chopped very fine you will have 2 quarts of chopped peppers. Add 2 tablespoons of pickling/canning salt to the mash and let it sit for 3-4 hours. Mine looks more like a mash because I used the chop setting on my blender

Pepper mash

When the pepper mash is done sitting around, just cook the whole mess up with the 2 cups of white sugar and 2 cups of white vinegar for about 45 minutes. Stir it often enough that it doesn’t burn or scorch. Put the relish from the pot to the jars to the canning bath for 10 minutes. Of course, the taste will depend on what pepper combination you started with. Mine ended up nice and mellow with a little bit of bite that catches you by surprise.

Pepper Relish in the Jar-O

The recipe:
     2 quarts finely chopped peppers                    2 tablespoons of pickling/canning salt
     2 cups of white sugar                                    2 cups of white vinegar
http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/canned/hot_relish.html