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

Pickled Beets

Back to the little corner kitchen to do some canning today and today's star of the show... beets. I have already done beets once this year but I do not turn away any fresh goodness from the farm and this year must have been a good year for beets.

Since I have quite a few beets in the freezer, this offering of the wonderful ruby red root will be pickled in the old farm style way. Simply, with vinegar, sugar, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Here is the recipe I intend to use:

10 lbs of beets (about)
2 cups of white sugar
1 Tablespoon of pickling salt (it is very important to use pickling salt)
1 quart (4 cups) of white vinegar
1/4 cup whole cloves
Stick cinnamon

While making pickled beets is fairly simple, it is also time consuming but well worth it.

The very first thing you need to do is boil up your fresh beets till they are done enough that the skins slip off. When they are done, drain and let them cool enough to handle. I generally don't worry about washing the beets first unless I am planning on using the juice for something. In this case, no juice is required. I just don't sweat a little dirt in the water because the beets come in their very own wrapper of sorts and the dirt will boil off in the cooking.

Hot steamy beets chillin' in the dish drainer. yes, a dish drainer can double as a mega strainer sometimes.

Now you can slip the skins off the beets and cut them into slices, about a quarter inch thick. The smaller beets I slice whole while the large beets I half or even quarter and then slice them. You want the slices to be small enough to go into the jars without too much trouble. Put the sliced beets in a bowl for now.

Put the rest of the ingredients, except the spices for now, in a large kettle. (I used my gross grandma's old dutch oven because I think it brings the spirit of her kitchen to mine). This is called a brine. For the spices there are several ways to go here. The easiest would be to divide the cloves among the jars and then tuck a cinnamon stick into the beets after they are in the jar. You can also tie up the cloves and cinnamon in a piece of cheesecloth and simmer them in the brine. I usually used a clean piece of cotton cloth because I never seem to have cheesecloth around. I am thinking I might just tie up the cloves and simmer them in the brine.
 I have always liked cinnamon sticks tucked in jars so that is what I will be doing with these beets as well.

After the brine is is done, but the sliced beets in hot sterile jars* with any spices you have decided to add to them in the jar. I use pint jars because around here a pint jar seems to be just about the right size for a snack for the two of us. Cover the beets with brine and seal. Once they are sealed you will want to put them in a hot water canning bath for 25-30 minutes. As I have posted before, when the time is up, I simply turn the canning kettle off and let them sit over night if I can. If I need the canner for another batch of something, I take the jars out hot and turn them upside down on a towel on the counter. This is where they will sit without moving overnight so you will want to think about that and place them somewhere kind of out of the way.

*To heat and sterilize your jars, a dishwasher works great. Otherwise a wash in some hot soapy water and a good rinse in hot water works well too. If I want to do this ahead of time, I will then put the jars in pans and just hold them in a warm oven. Usually the lowest setting keeps them plenty hot.