• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in The Food Biz.

Ensuring my peppers are safe to eat/store

A

Anto

Hey guys and girls!

I have been making hot pepper preserves/spreads/sauces for some time now. In Italian, its called 'giardineira', not sure what the direct translation would be in English. Essentially its peppers and veggies, either cut up in small piece or blended, under oil. My grandmother showed me how to make these awhile back and I'm wondering if this method is safe. Ive been eating this stuff for at least 10 years and never got sick! However, I am giving away some of my batches (no bad reactions in the 3-4 years of making this) and I want to ensure that everything is safe, and it hasn't been luck that nobody has gotten sick. I havent found many recipes online that resemble this one, so after finding this forum I thought I would give you guys a shot!
*I stored some for over 2 years and ate them, all was good!
 
Steps:
-Cut up peppers and veggies and throw in big glass jar
-Add lots of coarse salt to coat all pieces and let it sit to drain the moisture
-Drain liquid accumulated at the bottom and cover with vinegar for approximately 24 hours
-Put in jar and add oil (Canola as of right now), leaving a layer of oil at he top without any veggies poking out.
 
If anyone has experience with this kind of recipe or anything similar, can you also share the kind of oil you use to preserve it? Im finding that the canola is adding a flavor to it which is a little off putting, and I cant use olive oil as it hardens in the fridge.
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
SalsaLady would be one of the best to respond here. With the vinegar I think you should be fine. It's storing thinks like garlic in oil with NO acid that can be a breeding ground for botulism.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
We make lots of giardiniera through the summer and don't have space in the fridge for every jar, so most of it gets water bath canned and put of the shelf. It's kind of like pickling beets or any other vegetable using vinegar and sugar plus other ingredients.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Oh ok cool. I don't heat the veggies while sealing them. Also, once canned, I leave them at room temp until opened in the cupboard. Then I refrigerate them once opened. I never tried putting sugar, nice idea!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My own grandmother did the same thing for years and we all loved her oil packed mushrooms and pepper rings.  A couple summers ago I was trying to make my own giardinera at home and failed miserably.  I chopped up all the ingredients and then put them in jars and covered with oil.   Using a chopstick I got all the air out of the jars, topped w a bit more oil and then put the jars back in the box and down in the basement for storage in order for them to 'mature'.  I checked on them 3 or 4 weeks in and opened one of the jars to taste and see how things were progressing.
 
The jar spouted oil all over me and the kitchen.  The ingredients had begun to ferment and when I opened the jar all that pressure was released.  Obviously I did something wrong, but after that incident I've never tried again.  
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
That sounds like a bad time!
 
Did you just chop them and put them straight under oil? I think that's the problem, you need to salt them first, then 'pickle' them. Then the last step is the oil! It's super easy once you get it going.
Not sure if you were looking for an answer to where you went wrong, but here it is anyway haha. 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'm not an expert on all the ins and outs of this type of process, but it sounds like a good process.  Getting out some of the water, adding straight vinegar, which is the preservative, then oil and fridge. 
 
Putting raw veggies in oil is not good, as SnF discovered.  A lot of people use DRIED peppers, garlic, etc in oil and that works because of the lack of moisture from the vegetables. 
 
 
 
For the oil, there are a lot of other oils that might work.  I don't know what the solidification temps are but look into oils like grapeseed oil, walnut oil, safflower?????  there are lists online of the temps for the different oils.
 
Good Luck and Have Fun!!!
 
SL
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks for all the replies!

They can be stored once canned in oil for quite awhile in a cool dry place (I've stored some for over a year).
In regards to the oil, those are all good ideas. I need to taste a bunch of them to see which leave the least flavor. Is there anything specific I need to look for when choosing a preserving oil? Or anything will do?
 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Anto said:
Did you just chop them and put them straight under oil? I think that's the problem, you need to salt them first, then 'pickle' them. Then the last step is the oil! It's super easy once you get it going.
Not sure if you were looking for an answer to where you went wrong, but here it is anyway haha. 
Click to expand...
 
Yup that's pretty much exactly what I did - wash then chop then oil.  Maybe I try it again using your method.  :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Lol!
Ya you definitely should. I usually go 24 hours in coarse salt (be generous on the salt) and 24 hours completely submerged in white vinegar. Not sure if there are any hard and fast rules for the timing of these steps, but this is the time frame I use and it seems to work just fine.

Glad I can contribute a little, I foresee many more questions than answers in my future lol!
 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top