Canning Hot Pepper Bread and Butter Pickles

After a few other canning projects I had a few jalapeno peppers left, a few hot banana peppers, and some red chili peppers... what to do with these? I could have just dehydrated them, or frozen them, or eaten them, but I wanted to can them. So I came up with this...

I call it Hot Pepper Bread and Butter Pickles and here's what I did...

I sliced up my jalapenos and my hot banana peppers in rings, removing the seeds and inner ribs. I had about a pound total.

*I highly recommend wearing protective gloves when handling any hot peppers (ask me how I know this!) If you don't have gloves, you can protect your hands with plastic baggies. If you MUST handle the cut peppers with your bare hands, rub a bit of vegetable oil over your hands first. The oil will provide your pores with some protection. Wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water after handling peppers... and DO NOT touch your eyes for several hours!

I thinly sliced about a half pound of onions.

In a large saucepan, I mixed together...

1/8 cup pickling salt

1-3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1-1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Tbsp. pickling spice

I brought this mixture to a boil, dissolving the sugar and salt, then added my peppers and onions. I brought the mixture back to a boil. As soon as everything was cooked through (watch the peppers, their color will change from bright green to a more dull green)...

...I started packing my jars (I had heated and sterilized the jars by placing them upside down in a large pan of boiling water, I simmered my lids and kept everything hot until I was ready for them)

I used a slotted spoon to add the pepper/onion mixture to the jars, leaving about an inch of headspace, then added the hot syrup mixture to cover the peppers.

I removed any air bubbles then added more syrup as needed. At this point I inserted a couple of whole red chilis per jar for color and an added layer of flavor.

I wiped the jar rims, tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness, and processed the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (place filled jars into the canner ensuring they are covered with water, bring the water to a boil and boil for 10 minutes).

I removed the jars after processing using my jar lifter and placed them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.

This recipe only made 2 or 3 pints of pickles... it could easily be doubled, tripled, or more.