Surprise! Summer Fest is still on! Response and participation have been so great during the last five weeks, we decided to extend Summer Fest through mid-September and then roll right into a Fall Fest. We’ll even have a fun new Fall Fest pumpkin badge thanks to Matt of Matt Bites! Visit Margaret at A Way to Garden for all the new details and schedule.
This week we’re celebrating peppers, both sweet and spicy. I decided to try my hand at pickling some hot peppers since I happened to have a basket of serrano chiles sitting on the counter (I picked them up for a dollar at the Farmer’s Market last Saturday). I love pickled jalapenos, but I always end up using the store-bought kind. I thought it would be nice to have some home-pickled peppers on hand for once! And since I won’t go through them very fast on my own, one basket of peppers seemed like the perfect amount to pickle.
Since I’ve never pickled peppers before, I wanted to start with some sort of recipe. I found a couple in books, and several online, but finally decided on Michael Symon’s recipe at Michael Ruhlman’s blog. It was simple and easy to adapt to my small amount of peppers.
First, I washed the peppers and poked each of them in a few places with a knife (the idea to pierce them with a knife came from David Lebovitz’s version). Then I packed them into jars. One basket of peppers (about half a pound) filled three half-pint jars.
Next I made the brine. I used equal parts white vinegar and water, sugar, salt, garlic, coriander, cumin, and black peppercorns. I had planned on using bay leaves, but at the last minute, I couldn’t find mine! Oh well, I continued without. I boiled the liquid then let it simmer for ten minutes.
While still hot, I poured the brine over the peppers, filling the jar completely with liquid.
Next I put the lids on the jars, let them cool, then placed them in the fridge. They should be ready in about a week, but will continue to improve as they sit. From what I hear, they will last a very long time in the fridge.
You’ll just have to wait to hear how they taste! In the meantime, you should make some yourself.
More Recipes Featuring Peppers:
- Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
- Peach and Peppadew Salsa
- Feta-Stuffed Peppers from Seriously Good
- Sausage, Peppers, and Smoked Mozzarella Panini from Panini Happy
- Black Bean and Pepper Salad with Cilantro and Lime from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Roasted Green Peppers from Chocolate & Zucchini
Other Summer Fest Attendees Celebrating Peppers:
- Alison at Food2: Making Hot Pepper-Infused Tequila
- Michelle at Cooking Channel: A Peck of Perfect Pepper Recipes
- Kirsten at the FN Dish: Chiles Rellenos and More Stuffed Peppers
- Liz at Healthy Eats: 10 Ways To Eat Sweet Peppers
- Margaret at A Way to Garden: Oven-roasted peppers, and freezing how-to
- Caroline at The Wright Recipes: Homemade Harissa & Sweet and Spicy Peperonata
- The Gilded Fork: Dossier and recipes on peppers spicy and sweet
- Paige at The Sister Project: Grilled Tomatillo Salsa with Jalapenos
- Caron at San Diego Foodstuff: Consuelo’s Hot Chile Sauce and Hatch Chiles
- Alana at Eating from the Ground Up: Homemade hot sauce, and why gloves are a good idea
- Cate at Sweetnicks: Summer Panzanella
- Food Network UK: It’s Chili Weather
How You Can Join in Summer/Fall Fest 2010
Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? You can contribute to our online recipe swap in various ways, big or small.
Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer/Fall Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.
The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. Yes, copy and paste them everywhere! That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.
Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Matt Bites), or the new pumpkin version he just did if it’s for September 22 onward.
Summer/Fall Fest 2010 Posting Schedule
7/28: Cukes and Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens, and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit – I missed this one!
8/25: Tomatoes
9/1: Sweet and Spicy Peppers
9/8: Garlic
9/15: White (or colorful “white”…but not sweet) Potatoes
9/22: Spinach
9/29: Apples
10/6: Fall Salads
10/13: Pumpkin + Winter Squash
10/20: Pears
10/27: “Mad Stash” (as in what you’re shoving in freezer/jars/dehydrator, etc.)
11/3: Root veggies
11/10: Brassicas: incl. Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage or other
11/17: Sweet Potatoes
11/24: Bounty to Be Grateful For
