This is just another iteration of one of the most popular recipes on the blog, Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles. Just like the original, it makes fast work of an otherwise more time consuming chore – and I maintain, with better results.
Our hot pepper plants have been quite generous this year, providing us with a steady stream of Hungarian wax peppers, jalapenos, red cherry peppers and pepperoncini, plus another kind, for which I can’t find the seed packet, but they look like jalapeno’s taller cousins.
I freeze a lot of them whole. Wash and dry the peppers, lay out in single layer on a sheet pan, and pop in the freezer for a couple hours, then bag up the frozen pepper-sicles and pop the bags back in the freezer. To use them later, allow to partially thaw and then slice, or split lengthwise to remove the seeds and membranes, just ion case you want a little less heat. Frozen peppers work great in chili, tacos, black beans and rice or on pizza, and they stay nice for a whole year.
But Larry’s favorite taste of summer-in-the-wintertime are pickled peppers, so I make a lot of these every year. Like the Garlic Dills, they keep in the fridge for months, and not having to can them ensures they keep all that summery crunch.
You can use any kind of hot pepper for these, either separately, or as I did with these, mixing the different kinds together so that you end up with jars of beautiful color. I used the “thick” blade on my mandoline slicer to get even slices in a hurry. That is an Amazon affiliate link to the one I have – a cheapie that I don’t mind replacing every few years as the blade gets dull.
No canning involved, so you can use any sort of jar that has a snug lid, and you can expand [or contract] the brine amounts to suit whatever amount of peppers you have on hand. You can also cut the peppers anyway you like, but these slices make sure that you can cram a lot of peppers in a jar. They can be left whole, but make sure you poke a few holes in each one so that the brine can get inside. I used about 2 and half pounds of peppers and got these three jars plus a little brine left over.
- 2 quarts of water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- ½ cup pickling salt
- 2 to 3 pounds of hot peppers
- 3 cloves garlic
- Wash 3 quart jars and the lids - set aside.
- Measure the water, vinegar and salt into a 3 quart sauce pan, and stir until salt is dissolved. Bring to a simmer.
- Wash and dry the peppers, and cut however you like - smaller slices means more will fit into the jars, but they look nice just cut in half the long way.
- Peel the garlic cloves.
- Divide the peppers and garlic evenly between the jars, pressing down to fill in spaces.
- Carefully pour in the brine, making sure that the peppers are completely covered.
- Screw on the lids, and leave at room temperature for 2 or 3 days and then store in the refrigerator. They can be eaten fairly quickly, but are best after sitting a least a month. They will keep for several months in the fridge.
Larry is almost glad to go to work when these are in his lunch. Well, happy might be an exaggeration, but they make the day a little better!
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