Any canning experts around?

[Kingudaroad]

Is it necessary to water bath whole japs? Brine is the regular pickle brine of water, vinegar, salt and alum.

[Squirrel]

If you are planning to keep them in the fridge they should last a few weeks by pouring the hot brine over the peppers. I would let them set up for a week before eating though. Otherwise I think you would need to use a pressure canner if you are wanting to store them longer.

[Kingudaroad]

No pressure canner.

[Squirrel]

I wouldn't feel safe just using a water bath with peppers, but that's just me. I would do small batches and keep in the fridge and you wouldn't have to do the water bath at all. Just poor the hot brine over the peppers. I would still make sure the jars are sterilized. I put mine in the dishwasher on the "sterilize" setting.

I've done dilly beans like that and they stayed crisp for over a month. Actually, I'm thinking the beans and peppers would be good together. Hmmm....... thanks for the inspiration.

[Kingudaroad]

Ok fridge it is...Thanks Squirrel

[erain]

Is it necessary to water bath whole japs? Brine is the regular pickle brine of water, vinegar, salt and alum.

not an expert.... but this is from cooks.com and seems pretty simalar to yours... they process in a water bath.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1636...228199,00.html

and another for a sweet pepper.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2236...235203,00.html

Cheryls opinion is correct in the fact that peppers fall into the low acid vegetable group which should use a pressure canner for processing. however, if you are preparing them as a "pickle", which you are and so are both of the recipies i linked then this would apply...

"Vegetables are low acid foods, but when vegetables such as cucumbers, various beans, beets and some others are pickled, they can also be canned using the boiling water bath canning method. Because of the acid in vinegar used for pickling, jars of pickled vegetables can be canned in a boiling water bath."

also found this neat PDF...
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-568.pdf

[Squirrel]

Well spank my ass and call me Charlie. Thanks E for clearing that up. Sorry Kingo, I've been reading a bunch of stuff lately on canning, new recipes, etc. and I guess I got me wires crossed. Always bestest to get more than one opinion. In my opinion. If ya care to share your recipe for the jalapenos I would love to see it. Maybe take some pics of your process to.

[Mark R]

Both of my books call for pressure, "pints 35 minutes @ 10lbs pressure". Even if pickled.

[TasunkaWitko]

king - check with HOSER - i don't know the ins and outs because i don't can japs, but if i recall correctly he does some great ones....

[erain]

dang... might have to give this pickled pepper canning gig a shot. here some more recipies from colorado exten agency... sound pretty good, they say water bath ok also.

if not pickling then the pressre canner becomes necessity.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09314.html

[Kingudaroad]

Well, I cold packed them like I do my cukes but will keep them in the fridge. I only had 2 small jars so no biggie. I may try it again if the harvest is big enough using a 10 minute water bath.

Why is it ok to cold pack cucumbers and not peppers?

[TasunkaWitko]

i'm no expert, but i really think that the vinegar plus the salt is going to equal very, very little - if any - chance of spoilage or food-borne illness. after all, pickling was developed as a food preservation method. so there must be some credible methods or recipes out tehre, if the research is done.

having said that, there's always a possibility of soemthing not going according to plan, and there MIGHT be something about japs that make them different than cucumbers vis a vis canning.

i'm not syaing i'm right, and will certainly stand corrected if shown wrong - my advice is to do some research. if this is something you're interested in and want to get "into," then the more you read up on it the better.

[TasunkaWitko]

king - something about the pickled peppers was familiar-sounding, but i couldn't quite put my finger on it.

here's how they do it in romania:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards....topic1499.html

and i see no reason why it wouldn't work here as well, if you want to give it a try.