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Hot Pickles

I like spicy pickles.  I decided the ones that I can buy aren't hot enough though so I thought I would try making some.  Yesterday I canned nine jars of garlic dill ghost pepper pickles.  Now comes the hard part, I have to wait six to eight weeks to give them a try.
 
-Alden
 
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Ok, I got to try the refrigerator pickles out that I made.  The canned ones won't be ready until September so I made some refrigerator ones because they are ready in four to five days.  They were amazing!
 
In case you want to try some here is what I did.
 
Brine mixture:
 
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 teaspoon pickling spices
Four ghost peppers sliced up
 
Put this all in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  Once it has boiled I removed the ghost peppers (I was using the end caps off of a ton of peppers as I was making hot sauce at the same time).  You could leave them in if you want I just figured I got the oils out of them and they would be mushy.
 
Prepare a canning jar by sterilizing it either in an oven at 200 degrees for an hour or boiling water (I think for at least 15 minutes).
 
Lids also get sterilized by boiling in water.
 
For the pickles, I used Kirby cucumbers, fresh Dill, ghost peppers, pickling spices and garlic.
 
Cut the ends off of the cucumbers, apparently they contain enzyme that can make the pickle soft (bad thing).  Cut them into slices, quarters, or chips, whatever your preference is.
 
Pack some dill into the bottom of the jar (you let it cool before handling it).  Smash a couple garlic cloves and drop those in too. Put a half a teaspoon of picking spice in the jar and then fill with cucumbers.  [edit] I forgot the most important part, I added two ghost peppers sliced vertically to each jar [/edit]. Top with a little more dill but try and leave about a half inch of clearance at the top of the jar.
 
Fill with hot brine, put a lid on and tighten it down.  Once it has cooled down put them in the refrigerator. 
 
Wait four or five days and enjoy a crisp spicy pickle.
 
-Alden
 
muskymojo said:
Sounds good, but what we all want to know is how :hot: they ended up using that method of removing the peppers after bringing to a boil. ;)
 
After your comment I realized I left out the part of adding a couple ghost peppers in with the cucumbers.  I updated my post to include them.
 
I think boiling the peppers in the brine fills the brine with the oils from the peppers and that makes it easy for it to get into the cucumbers.  These will make you clear your throat when you have them.  My sisters comment when she tried them was whoooooweeeee those are hot.
 
-Alden
 
Cucumbers are perfect here now so I got a little crazy at the farmers market yesterday.

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I can only fit 4 in the quart jar to ferment. Need to invest in big Fidos.

What didn't fit went to bread and butter pickles for my honey. A few dried Thai peppers, but he doesn't like it too spicy.

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And for me, got some a little larger and used Joyners as inspiration. Ginger, Korean chili flakes, fresh cayenne, mustard seed, black pepper and a tiny splash of fish sauce.


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