Sweet & Sour Pickled Peppers and Onions

Back to share my favorite new canning recipe that I discovered this Summer.  May I introduce to you Sweet & Sour Pickled Peppers and Onions.  This makes a beautiful canned presentation and it's so delicious too.  I'll definitely be making this every year now come garden season. 

If there's a few things I can grow well in my garden it's peppers, onions and jalapenos.  The colored peppers....I still have to buy those as I haven't found good varieties for these yet.  The color is very important if you care about presentation and how pretty your jars look on the shelf.  

 This recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest magazine called Canning (preserving + freezing + drying).  I found my copy at Walmart and just saw them on the shelves still today while grocery shopping.  I'll share my adapted recipe at the end of the post.

The recipe calls for red, green, yellow and/or orange sweet peppers.  I also threw in a few jalapenos and some pepperoncini peppers because they were plentiful in the garden.  The colorful mix is really the key to this recipe.

I followed the recipe almost exactly as called for otherwise.  I stuffed all the peppers and onions into the jars, leaving the appropriate head space.  

You can see how beautiful the jars look already.  I like to overstuff my jars a bit because when you add the hot liquid the peppers will shrink down a little.  Otherwise when the jars are cooled the veggies float to the top and there's a lot of liquid at the bottom of the jar with no veggies. 

Here's the jars filled with the vinegar liquid mixture.  I love seeing the seeds and peppercorns in this mix.  It looks so fancy.  You can see here that I put a few jalapeno slices on the tops of these jars.  

 Here's the jars straight out of the canning pot.  So bright and crisp looking.

 Alas, that color doesn't last but the jars are still beautiful and filled with colorful veggies.

I know we will go through these like crazy so I've already made a second batch. I'll see what comes from the garden yet and may make a third batch.  These would make great Christmas gifts or be perfect to take to tailgate parties, etc.  

For some recipe ideas, so far we've tried the pickled mixture on pulled pork with coleslaw and BBQ sauce. The veggies stayed crunchy and the vinegar gave a little zip to the sandwiches. 

 Simple hotdogs take on a whole new meaning now.  My husband gave this a two thumps up so it's definitely a keeper recipe.

Here's the recipe that you can copy and paste into a word document if you want to print:

Sweet & Sour Pickled Sweet Peppers and Onions

from Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Canning (preserving + freezing + drying) ...adapted by Michelle Wooderson

3 pounds red, green, yellow and/or orange sweet peppers, sliced into bite size strips ( I add jalapeno and pepperoncini too)

2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced (can add more if you like more onion)

4 cups sugar

4 cups water

3 cups white vinegar

2 cups cider vinegar

1 tablespoon celery seeds

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

4 cloves garlic, smashed

4 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Combine pepper strips and onions in large bowl.  Set aside. In cooking pot combine all other ingredients.  Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.  Discard garlic (I left mine in) and bay leaves.  Pack pepper-onion mixture into hot sterilized pint canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Pour hot vinegar mixture into jars, maintaining the 1/2 inch head space.  Discard any remaining vinegar mixture.  Wipe jar rims; adjust lids and screw bands.  Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling).  Remove jars from canner.  Cool on wire racks.  Wait for the "ping" sound of sealed jars. Rejoice.  Enjoy.  Makes 7 pints. 

Recipe ideas:  Use as topping for hotdogs, chili dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, sloppy joes, roast beef or salads.  Chop and add to meatloaf, hamburgers or potato salads.  

Summer canning...55 jars of homemade goodness

Summer around here means tending to the garden, pulling weeds, keeping everything watered and then waiting for everything to grow and ripen.  It's that time so I've been busy canning.  I wasn't quite sure I'd find a canning pot that would work with my induction top stove but I found this large size, stainless steel one at Walmart.  Works like a charm.  If you use an induction top stove, just make sure you see the induction compatible icon on the sticker.  Then you'll know you're good to go.

Good canning supplies and clean jars are a must.  I use only sterilized jars that are meant for canning.....no mayonnaise jars or cleaned up pickle jars.  Usually I stick with Ball or Kerr and Ball lids.  I like Certo Sure Jell for my liquid pectin but I tried the powdered version this Summer with good results too.

There's always a little pan of simmering water ready to warm up the lids.  This is key as it gets the rubber on the lids softened and makes for a perfect seal every time. First up was the fruits and Peach Jam.  My local grocery store had some nice, ripe fruit this year that was really sweet.

 This is a favorite and probably reminds me of Summer the most come Winter time. Nothing like it on homemade biscuits.

 My mom always freezer Strawberry Jam but I opted to can mine.

 My jars ended up a little foamy but there was just too much to scrape off.  Tastes just as good on some toast made from homemade bread.

These little jars of Blueberry Peach Preserves will be yummy warmed up and poured over a bowl of vanilla ice cream....or over homemade yogurt with granola.

I spent two full days in the kitchen canning.  Temperatures were very mild so I didn't mind heating up the kitchen for a while.  My kitchen usually looks like this during canning season.  The stove is a boiling, sticky or bubbly mess, the countertops are lined with clean towels and cooling jars.  There's fresh picked zucchini, cucumbers and the like laying around....and there's always that wonderful sound to any canner's ears....the pop, pop, pop of sealing jars. 

Next up I moved on to some sweet green peppers that I picked from the garden.  I purchased the colored varieties at the store. 

 This beautiful mixture is Picked Peppers & Onions with a garlicky/peppery brine.  I added in a few jalapeno slices for a little heat. I plan to dump these over a roast, use on hamburgers or maybe mix some into some salads.  Lots of possibilities here.

 Loved how these turned out straight from the canner.  So bright and fresh looking.

 As always, the heat always turns the veggies a little muted color but these are still so pretty.  I might even enter one of these in the fair this year....just to relive my 4-H days.

Next I picked a variety of hot peppers from the garden.

I was just about out of Candied Jalapenos.  My family loves these over cream cheese with crackers, some dips and in Chili with a cool dollop of sour cream. 

 These are more mild pepperoncini peppers. I sliced some and left some whole.  I'll use these over salads and will dump some over roasts in the slower cooker this Winter.

 That's my beautiful bounty so far.  55 jars of homemade goodness.

It feels so rewarding to grow your own garden goodies, preserve them in fun ways....and then reap the fruits of your labor come Fall and Winter.  All the sweat and hard work pays off.  I have lots of veggies still in the garden so most likely I'll be canning up more jars for Christmas gifts this year.  

Haven't tried canning?  Think it's too hard?  It's not.....just get the right supplies, use fresh ingredients, follow the instructions exactly and you'll be on your way.  Hope you give it a try and that we start a new canning revolution!