Making Candied Jalapenos

I went out and harvested a nice mess of jalapeno peppers from the garden.  We make pepper jelly, pickled jalapeno peppers and then we cook with them as well, but this time I was looking for another option of something interesting to do with them and I found just the thing.

On a website called Foodie With Family, I found a great looking recipe for: Candied Jalapenos  That sounds very interesting to me - Peppers that are sweet AND hot!  Before we get to making the recipe, we had to pick them.  The pepper plants were absolutely loaded with jalapenos. It took just a short amount of time to pick just enough for the recipe - 3 pounds!

Picking Peppers

After I weighed them I washed them up real good in the vegetable sink.  The red peppers are some cayenne peppers I threw in there just for color.

Peppers all cleaned up

Then I got out a cutting board and a sharp knife and removed the stems and then sliced the peppers into 1/4 inch slices, making a note to myself to NOT rub my eyes.  (That's experience speaking.)

Sliced jalapenos

Then I set them aside in a bowl.

I grabbed a large pot and poured in 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and turned up the heat to start it boiling.

Then I added the spices to the boiling apple cider vinegar:

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 3 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Spices

Then I also add 6 cups of sugar.  Yeah, 6 cups, wow.

Here it is all poured into the pot just prior to boiling.  Give it a good stir.

Once it comes to a full boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then add in all the jalapeno peppers, stir, and allow to simmer for 4 minutes

Simmering peppers in the syrupy spices

Now I use a slotted spoon and a canning funnel to spoon the peppers into sterilized pint sized canning jars.

Packing the jars with peppers

Once I removed all the peppers, I bring the syrup to a full boil again and let it boil for 6 minutes.  I then use a ladle to dip out and pour the syrup into the jars.  You'll notice that I had some extra syrup left over that I put in a half pint jar.  The recipe says to use this to brush on meat on the grill or add to potato salad.  As you can imagine it has some sweet, spicy heat.

Jars full of peppers and spicy syrup

I wipe the rims and then put the Tattler lids, gaskets, and rims on the jars and put into a canner and cover with enough water so that the jars are covered with 2 inches of water.  

Adding jar to a canner

Bring the water to a full rolling boil and allow to boil for 15 minutes.

Rolling boil

Once 15 minutes has passed, I remove them with some canning tongs and put them on a cooling rack to cool for 24 hours.  

Allow to sit for 24 hours undisturbed

It is recommended that you let them sit in the pantry for at least 2 weeks or a month before you eat them to allow the flavors to mellow.  I gotta tell you I can't wait to try Candied Jalapenos!