How To Can Hot Peppers

Hot peppers are an ornamental and super productive garden plant. It’s difficult to keep up with the fruit that seems to just pour out of them. Preservation is an excellent way to take advantage of the season’s bounty and extend the harvest for months to come. Canned and pickled hot peppers make great gifts and party favors.

In Water

The one thing that seems to scare people off of home canning is acid content and pressure cooking. Vegetables and fruits that don’t have enough acid or sugar in them to prevent the growth of botulism must be pressure cooked to can safely. Hot peppers are one of these vegetables and canning them in water requires a pressure cooker.

Select crisp fruits and discard any soggy peppers. Sanitize the jars and lids by boiling them for 10 minutes or placing them in a dishwasher under the ‘sanitize’ cycle.

Get a large pot of water boiling on the stove while you wash your peppers. Wash them and slice them lengthwise. Remove the seeds and stems. At this point, you can blister the peppers to remove the skins or leave the skin on.

Pack the jars with fruit and pour the boiling hot water over them to cover them completely. Place lids and rings tightly on the jars and into the pressure cooker they go.

Place them on the pressure cooker rack and put the lid on but allow the cooker to vent. Turn the head up to high and let the cooker steam for 10 minutes to purge the air space inside.

Then, lock the pressure cooker lid and let 11 pounds of pressure build. Keep the pressure cooker at around 11 pounds for 35 minutes to fully can hot peppers in water.

Blistering

To easily remove pepper skins, lay them in a single layer skin side down. Turn the pan onto medium heat and allow the pepper skin to blacken and start to blister. Once cooled, the skins should be easy to peel off.

In Vinegar

Don’t worry if you don’t have a pressure cooker or are too nervous to try and use it. You can always pickle hot peppers safely.

The preparation is much the same. Sanitize your jars, process the peppers, and get a large pot of water boiling on the stovetop. In another pot, heat up your brine. Apple cider or white vinegar work equally well, it comes down to flavor preference. Find a favorite brine recipe. Other common ingredients include: