Sweet Pickled Peppers

They give so much and require so little

Pickled peppers, go with almost anything. A plate of white rice, chicken, and sautéed garlicky green beans or roasted broccoli with hoisin sauce. A bowl of red curry with tofu. Chopped up in a sandwich with mortadella & mozzarella or thick slices of turkey toasted with provolone cheese on Stecca. Or, with this chicken salad:

How ever you choose to enjoy pickled peppers, I’m just happy you’re enjoying them. I find the act of pickling and canning very daunting. My mind conjures images of someone (certainly not me, at least not yet) standing in front of a 12qt stock pot, sterilizing glass jars for various preserved fruits and vegetables. Because I’m not a patient woman (working on it) I most often quick-pickle certain items (like sliced red or white onions, carrots, radishes, fennel bulb, and yes, I’ve even done blueberries) to add as an accent to whatever dish I’m making. The most involved I’ll get, pickling-wise, is the recipe below. It’s stupid easy and works perfectly fine for me.

This week I made two batches using two different types of peppers I found at my local farmer’s market. One was a carton of mini sweet peppers and the other were red Korean chili peppers. There isn’t a pepper I won’t pickle!

Next week I’m going to talk about why I still find going to farmer’s markets enjoyable, even though they illicit my flight and freeze response!

This makes a 34oz jar’s worth of pickled peppers. As a rule I only keep these in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks max. And I definitely don’t store them long term at room temperature because this recipe is intended for refrigerated pickles only (sitting a little above the recommended 2.5% acidity level).

• a bag of mini sweet peppers or 3-4 normally sized bell peppers sliced ( I usually stick to yellow, orange, and red)

• 2 cups water

• 1.5 cup white vinegar (5% acidity)

• 1 cup rice vinegar (4.3% acidity)

• 2 tbsp salt

• 1.5 tbsp honey

• For this recipe, I didn’t add peppercorns because I ran out and I didn’t really miss them too much. But feel free to add however many you want (I’d start with at least 1 tbsp).

• I also considered adding a cardamom pod but chickened out. If you’re feeling brave, it would be fun to experiment with different types of whole, dried spices.

Method:

1. place your peppers in the 34oz le parfait jar

2. bring the remaining ingredients above (everything but your peppers) to a simmer in a pot

3. once it’s reached a simmer, pour over the jar of peppers

4. I let mine cool very slightly before closing the air tight lid, and cool almost to room temperature before putting them in the fridge where they’ll live