Jalapeno peppers

Cowboy Candy

3 pounds fresh, firm, jalapeno peppers, washed
2 cups cider vinegar
6 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
3 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Slice and seed peppers (wear gloves!). Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add pepper slices and cook until the peppers take on a forest green color and appear "candied"; about 8-10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon and pack into sterilized jars (I use half-pints). Pour remaining syrup in pot over peppers in jars up to 1.4 inch from top of jar. Seal and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes (15 minutes for pints). These really should set for up to a week before being opened. A cracker, topped with cream cheese and a candied pepper slice, with a little syrup from the jar added on top of that, is DIVINE (I am totally addicted and have been known to make a meal off of them). Any remaining syrup I have is poured into jars and processed with the peppers.... to be used to glaze grilled meats or add to potato salad, etc. Delicious!!!!

Thanks everyone, so many good ideas, I sliced 8 pints and covered peppers with the vinegar solution, and sealed. DH has already asked when he can pop the lid and try some. I have 6 plants that seems to stay loaded. I will be trying some of your ideas in a few days. Thanks

Split, remove seeds, place cream cheese inside, Put back together and wrap n a bacon strip. Grill or smoke until bacon browns and crisps. Enjoy!

PGR_Skye wrote:
How about making some Cowboy Candy? Its basically a bread and butter pickled jalapeno recipe. Its an easy recipe that you can water bath can so you don't need a pressure canner and it's pretty popular. If you're interested, post and I will put the recipe on here for you.

I'll bite. Recipe?

Shoot, who needs to can the Cowboy Candy! My family goes thru them so fast I just make a gallon at a time and give everyone a fork!

I just pick them, rinse then off, put them in the freezer in a freezer ziplock bag and use them throughout the rest of the year. Hard to tell from fresh.

I also like to make Freezer Salsa. Thawed, it's almost like fresh.

Freezer Salsa

7 lbs tomatoes
3 Cups chopped chile peppers, such as Anaheim or poblano
1/2 Cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeno or Serrano chiles
2 Cups chopped onion
5 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 Cup vinegar
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Peel, seed and coarsely chop tomatoes. Place tomatoes in a large colander and drain for 30 minutes. Place drained tomatoes in a large kettle and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes or until thickened. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and place kettle in a sink filled with ice water to cool quickly. When cool, spoon into freezer-proof containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Freeze for up to 6 months. (I have kept it longer with no adverse effects).

Makes 4 pints.

know anyone with a smoker? you could make some chipotles and they should keep a long time.

How about making some Cowboy Candy? Its basically a bread and butter pickled jalapeno recipe. Its an easy recipe that you can water bath can so you don't need a pressure canner and it's pretty popular. If you're interested, post and I will put the recipe on here for you.

The vinegar/water/salt will result in a product much like those available commercially, so probably your best bet for pickling.

Hot pepper jelly is a favorite around here, so I like to make some of that up when I have fresh peppers.

If you like pepper "poppers" filled with cheese:

-Choose some nice fat peppers, cut in half, remove the seeds and white membrane.
-Blanch them for thirty seconds or so in boiling water, remove from water and plunge into cold water to stop cooking.
-Freeze on cookie sheet so they don't stick together...when fully frozen dump into a plastic bag for term storage. (At this stage I like to dip the frozen peppers into cold water, which immediately freezes and forms a nice protective film on the pepper surface that protects it from freezer burn.)

To use, just remove however many peppers you want, fill them with cheese, and pop into the oven. Other fillings work, too...

Can some as you plan but simply freeze a bunch for cooking purposes. I also make pepper jelly while I can.