Pickled Banana Peppers

My two daughters absolutely LOVE pickled banana peppers (I'm not a huge fan but I'll eat 'em on a sandwich or something), I've seen my oldest daughter when she was 10 or 11 years old sit and eat half a jar of them straight out of the jar... I don't know if she still eats them like that or not but I know she still loves them. My younger daughter is almost as passionate about them... so, being the doting mother that I am, and having a bounty of banana peppers, I made a few jars for the girls.

Here's how I did it...

I cut the stem ends off my banana peppers and scooped the seeds out, trying my very best to keep the peppers intact so I could then slice them into rings (they like the rings!)

Then I prepared the brine by mixing

5 cups vinegar (I used white, because the peppers were so lovely and colorful I wanted them to shine through)

1 cup water
4 teaspoons canning and pickling salt

2 Tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic (OK, I like the added garlic flavor, so I put in 4 cloves)

I brought the vinegar mixture to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to marry and blend... then I removed the garlic cloves. Meanwhile, I prepared my pint canning jars by placing them in a flat pan of boiling water set over two stove eyes. I simmered the lids in boiling water and kept everything hot until I was ready for them.

I loosely packed the banana pepper rings in the hot pint jars.

I ladled the hot brine mixture into the jars, filling the jars and removing any air bubbles... leaving a half inch headspace.

I wiped the rims and tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness.

I processed the jars in a boiling water bath, ensuring they were completely covered with boiling water and processing for 10 minutes.

After processing, I removed the jars with my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool... and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.

Oh, yeah, the girls are gonna LOVE these!