A Peck of Pickled Peppers

As the gardening season winds down, I periodically feel waves of panic that I need to be preserving what I can from the garden.   The only thing that really produced a preservable amount this year was my peppers.  I went out a couple of weeks ago and picked what was ready.

Let's break it down, shall we?

First, the banana peppers, at varying stages of ripeness.

My personal favorite, the jalapenos.

And then the good ol' bell peppers.

Let's start here.  First, I set aside any that were red (or turning red).  They were put on the windowsill to ripen until I made something delicious with them.

Then I chopped up the green ones and froze them using two methods.

First, the flash-freeze method.  I lay them out flat to freeze, so that they wouldn't be in one solid chunk.  After they were frozen, I put them in a cool whip container and a sour cream container.

I put the rest in a ziploc freezer bag.  (As you can see, I did this awhile ago).

I roasted the green chiles (not pictured) and we used them for breakfast burritos that night.  I think I need to water my chiles more so they are fleshier, so there is something left after I roast and peel them.  They have been pretty wimpy this year.

I decided to can the jalapenos and banana peppers, so I cut them up to size, WEARING GLOVES of course.  Jalapeno oil is nothing to mess around with.

Then processed them in garlic-flavored vinegar.  It was my first time canning something by myself, but it went pretty smoothly.  We have already broken into the jalapenos on the left.

They are SPICY but oh-so-good.  Perhaps I will have to do a Jalapeno week sometime...