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pickling Greek pepperoncini pickle test

The Greek pepperoncinis were a sore spot around the household last year because no matter what I did they didn't "taste right" to the BF and we threw away pretty much everything and decided just to eat them fresh. So when Potawie brought up the subject, I decided to once and for all solve this thing.

Here's what I know so far:
1. The Stavros seeds I'm using are not the best but they're supposed to be pretty good.

2. The ones I see in the store bought jars and on salad bars are usually on the small side. I suspect they are picked in the green stage before they get too big.

3. The darker the pepper and the more olive color it turns after pickling, the worse it offends the sensitive taste buds of the BF.

4. The seeds and placenta turn brown almost instantly upon contact with air. Even if they don't end up noticeably brown on the inside, sometimes they're "slimy" in texture.

5. They are traditionally soaked by the processor in a sodium bisulfite (or sometimes metabisulfite) solution then rinsed prior to the actual canning process.


First I picked some representative peppers from last night's harvest. The top row are small, very immature pods.
Middle row is of varying ripeness and about the size that seems right to fit well in a jar.
Bottom row are full size and ripening. I had to cut the biggest three in half for this experiment.

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Next, I divided the group in half with equal representation for each batch. I cut the stems short and made one lengthwise incision in each pod which then immediately went into my prepared preservative solution. The tub on the left is double-strength Fruit Fresh and water. The right side is pickling lime and water. (careful with the lime unless you want to re-enact that scene from Fight Club )

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To purge the air out of the pods, I took another tub and cut holes in the bottom. I squished the pods a few times until there were no more bubbles.

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I let them soak for maybe an hour then drained the solution off and flushed them with vinegar, squeezing them again, then placed them in pint Mason jars. I did a 'quick pickle' where I take boiling distilled vinegar, water and salt solution and pour it in the jars. I squished them again with an ice cream scoop and put the lids on. I could have fit more in there.

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I screwed up the lime jar because I forgot to add the water to the vinegar I squeezed out of the peppers, so the acidity is different from the Fruit Fresh jar. I'm going to let these sit until tonight then we'll do a taste test.

c.
 
Great topic. I was reading the other topic as well and glad you decided to dedicate a topic to the testing of different pickling. I don't think the "Greek Peppers" that are suppose to be special are that special as much as the pickling process and when the peppers are picked. They do seem very small almost like the top row in your picture. Are the peppers your using the same as the pepperoncini's you get from cross country nursery? I couldn't find any other ones and the Cross Country site didn't have a lot of detail about the pepper either way I order a few plants with the intent of pickling them hoping to get the same result from the Pappa John peppers.

Please keep us posted on your findings. I have never pickled anything before and this is my first year growing peppers so I'm gonna need all the help I can get.
 
I too am anxious to hear the final verdict on these guys! You know Carol, if the flavor still doesn't seem quite there, you might try a pinch of tumeric in them. That might get you closer to the intended color as well, as usually the pickling liquid has that tumeric yellow color. Regardless, they look really great, and I can't wait to hear how the taste test works out. If they're not quite there this evening, give them a couple of weeks in the fridge to mellow out. That always seems to help my pickled peppers.

Also, if they're too soft, you might be able to crisp them before pickling in a bowl of salted ice. We always do this when making pickles, and it really helps keep them crispy.
 
Sorry, we didn't get to tasting them last night.

LGHT said:
Are the peppers your using the same as the pepperoncini's you get from cross country nursery? I couldn't find any other ones and the Cross Country site didn't have a lot of detail about the pepper either way I order a few plants with the intent of pickling them hoping to get the same result from the Pappa John peppers.

Don't know how they compare to Cross Country's. I got mine on eBay last year and this year. Just search under "Stavros pepperoncini" - the eBay links don't last very long.
Yeah, that Pappa John's flavor is my goal.


FiveStar said:
You know Carol, if the flavor still doesn't seem quite there, you might try a pinch of tumeric in them. That might get you closer to the intended color as well, as usually the pickling liquid has that tumeric yellow color.

Also, if they're too soft, you might be able to crisp them before pickling in a bowl of salted ice. We always do this when making pickles, and it really helps keep them crispy.

I thought about the tumeric, but the jars we get at the store don't have any so I don't think that's the flavor issue. I'm sure it does golden them up. Most of them use yellow food dye. I'll give tumeric and/or garlic a try if I can't get results any other way.

They're usually plenty crisp. In fact they don't brak away from the cap and stem as easily as I would like. Might need to cook them a little to get that - if I even want that. I don't know.

Here's a pic of one jar next to some baby green Greeks and that's a yellowish wax on the lower left.

greekJar2.jpg


c.
 
Wow Carol, I think that lime treatment or fruit fresh, whichever that is, looks to have done a good job of lightening the color for you! Can't wait for the verdict on the taste test!
 
That one's the Fruit Fresh. I think it's slightly nicer looking than the lime, but they're very close. I also realize now that I should have done a control group with no pre-soaking. I'm relying on our memories from last season. It's basically going to be a pass/fail thing for now.
 
I can't get the BF in the mood for a taste test yet - I've been feeding him all kinds of other peppers and salsa experiments. I'm getting impatient too, but his taste buds are far superior to mine in the flavor testing department. I'm trying not to nag him about it. :D
 
And... we have liftoff!

Opened the Fruit Fresh jar first and they do have a slightly better color. The pepper we tasted was a small to medium sized one but I can't tell what ripeness it had been. He took a bight, swallowed it, and took another bight. Yay !!! The seeds were nice and white, no "slimy" texture on the inside and the taste was "way better than last year, but still not quite right." I liked it - pretty zingy.

The lime preparation - not so good. The representative pepper I chose was on the small side and therefore I'm thinking very green to start with. There was some discoloration of the seeds and I really noticed that I forgot to dilute the vinegar. I definitely prefer the FF version at this point.

I added some water to the lime jar and we put both jars in the fridge for further testing... cold. It's interesting that the taste did change with a presoking phase and the FF definitely helped the case of the slimies.

Will update later.

c.
 
I just did my own pickled pepperoncini test.
I poked holes then soaked peppers overnight in a cold salt(kosher) water brine. Next I added a couple cut up douglah peppers for extra heat and then added approx 50/50 mix of boiling water and vinegar with a bit of tumeric, some garlic and some kosher salt. These won't be around long and they will be refrigerated so I didn't water can or pressure can them. The only problem so far is that a few peppers are still floating so next time I'll poke larger holes and squish them a bit to force air out and liquid in. Now I just have to wait a week or so to try them out if I can wait that long.

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A couple of douglahs? Wow. That should suffice for "extra heat"! Glad to see this experiment progressing, and can't wait to see what the final verdict is. I love pepperoncinis, and would love to be able to approximate them at home.
 
Never done pepperoncini before but when I pickle jalapenos I blanch the peppers for just a minute then cut up and pack my jars. I get a product close to store bought in crispness and don't lose much heat.
 
Taste them already! Hehehe.

We ate a bunch of mine in some salad the other day. The final verdict is "just OK" on the flavor but way better on the anti-browning. The one limed pepper that had some brown seeds must have been a fluke because the others were fine. Gonna do the next harvest (soon!) with a higher concentration of Fruit Fresh and soak longer. Maybe with salt too.
 
are you using any pickle crisp (calcium chloride)

I dont' have much to contribute...my pepperoncinis aren't doing well at all...
 
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