Canning Peppers

I love canning different hot peppers together to use on sandwhiches, etc but I have never been able to keep them crisp. Doesn't really bother me though.

This is my go-to method and it works fine for me.

First thing I do is get a large pot of water with a 1/2 cup of vinegar on the stove and heat it up to 185 degrees. You DON'T want it to come to a boil.

I pickle the peppers whole and will cut up slices of garlic and thinly sliced onion and pack that in the jars with the peppers and pack them in the jars as tight as I can.

Then I fill the jar 1/2 way with vinegar and top it off with water to completely fill the jars. Empty the liquid into a sauce pan, add the amount of salt you want to add and also some whole mustard seed. Bring this to a boil to blend well.

When your big pot of water is up to 185 degrees, fill the jars of peppers with the brine, make sure to wipe down any liquid on the rim of the jar, place the lid and then the screw down band on the jar and tighten them on snug.

Place the jars in the hot water bath and let them in there for 15 minutes for pint jars, 20 minutes for quart jars. You want the water to completely cover the tops of the jars by about 1 inch. Remove the jars from the hot water bath and place them on a towel on your countertop to cool. As they cool, they will form a vacuum and suck down the lid with a distinct pop.

IF any of the lids don't form a vacuum and seal, use them first. I put my sealed jars in the pantry to use later, if a jar doesn't seal, put it in the fridge and use first. It is very rare that a jar won't seal using this method.