Easy to Make, Hard to Resist
Jalapeños shouldn’t be soft and grey. Yet can after can, we seem to keep eating them, without question. Wha? There are alternatives. If you can boil water, you can make your own freshly pickled peppers, which are crisp to the bite, and vibrant green in color.
Out of all the chiles that are available at the supermarket, jalapeños are the ones that most benefit from pickling. We are so accustomed to all jalapeños being pickled, we simply call them “jalapeños” and not pickled jalapeños. But every can that says “jalapeños en escabeche” or “jalapeños encurtidos” means that the peppers have been prepared in a vinegar marinade.
Jalapeños have gotten larger over the years, and milder, which I attribute to the popularity of stuffed poppers. Some are almost as mild as bell peppers, which is rather silly. Bell peppers already exist.
Pickled Jalapeños are Great to Have on Hand
There are a variety of different recipes out there for canning your own jalapeños. My preference is that the recipes uses just a bit of olive oil, a pinch of sugar, a few fresh herbs such as thyme or bay laurel, cloves, and cinnamon. You will also need canning salt, which will flavor your peppers, without making the vinegar cloudy. Regular table salt contains Yellow Prussiate of Soda, and anti-caking agent that helps salt to flow freely, and not clump and harden. Although the cloudiness is not harmful, and completely edible, crystal clear vinegar in your jar of jalapeños is preferable.
But using canning salt doesn’t mean that your jalapeños must be canned and processed in a water bath. Simply prepare your jalapeños in a jar or glass bowl, allow to cool completely, and place the container in the refrigerator. After 48 hours, your jalapeños are fully pickled and ready to use!
Eaten raw, fresh jalapeños are spicy, but blah. But just add vinegar, and a few flavorings and kaboing! It’s nacho time!
Vegetables for Homemade Pickled Jalapeños, you don’t need that much to make a lot
Just use a spoon to scoop out the middle.
Canning salt clumps a bit, but leaves the vinegar crystal clear. Regular table salt makes the vinegar cloudy.
Simply pour the hot vinegar mixture over the chopped vegetables
Home Made Pickled Jalapeños Peppers
Fresh pickled jalapeños are best!
- Prep Time: 8 min
- Cook Time: 5 min
- Total Time: 13 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: garnish
Ingredients
8 oz fresh jalapeños (250gr)
1 large carrot, peeled
1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick whole cinnamon
1/2 tsp whole black pepper (1gr)
3–4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup water
1 cup white or apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. canning salt (8gr)
1/4 tsp. sugar (1gr)
Instructions
Slice the jalapeños into strips or rounds, along with the carrots and onions. Add the garlic, cinnamon, black pepper and thyme.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add the water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, and then pour the vinegar over the bowl of vegetables. Allow the vegetables to steep in the vinegar for a couple of hours, and then store in the refrigerator. The jalapeños will be ready for use after 24 hours.
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