[CH] Preserving peppers (used to be Botulism...)
JohnT (Love2Troll@kc.rr.com)
Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:44:17 -0600
Mary-Anne writes: > I can peppers in a salt and vinegar brine likepickles
and process 10 minutes in water bath as per Ball Blue Book works great and
they keep their texture.
M-A,
That's what I'm going to do with the pods I don't freeze this year. For
years I've kept a huge jar of equal parts vinegar and sugar in the fridge to
refrigerator pickle the pods. The vinegar eventually softens them though.
The sugar keeps the colors vivid. Pickled pods make incredible powders when
dehydrated & ground up and I'm surprised more people don't do that. There
is a slight chance of Listeria food poisoning with refrigerator pickling
and I'm dehydrating the pickled pods now or using in something that I
pressure cook. Interesting your use of horseradish to keep pods crisp. I
use it when I ferment cabbage (making sauerkraut) for the very same reason.
We both love tomatoes. Have you ever sun-dried (I use dehydrator) with a
sprinkle of salt and pepper powder? Yum!!! Sun Gold & a Cajun seasoning
just can't be beat.
jt
----- Original Message -----
From: Mary-Anne Durkee
To: JohnT
Cc: chile-heads@globalgarden.com
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [CH] Botulism question.
John
I can peppers in a salt and vinegar brine likepickles and process 10 minutes
in water bath as per Ball Blue Book works great and they keep their texture.
I put a piece of green bell pepper and a piece of horseradish in each pint
to help with crispness.
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 6:03 AM, JohnT <Love2Troll@kc.rr.com> wrote:
> Refer to the Bllue Book (the Bible of safe canning.
I rather thought that M-A would be very knowledgeable about food
preservation. (and of course she is!)
There is a newer Ball canning book out
http://www.fototime.com/inv/2F6C83D2F8FD752 that is completely up to date &
I highly recommend the Ellie Topp book that was revised in 2007.
JimC is the person that got me really looking into food safety when he
refused to try any of my cheese sauce because I put up in plastic squeeze
bottles. (this was at O.F. 2004)
Peppers I find rather puzzling. They aren't high acid so if you want to can
just peppers you have to pressure process (which kills heat and taste IMO)
rather than the boiling water bath method that I prefer. What puzzles me is
that I suspect that capsaicin is somewhat anti-bacterial. When I ferment
very hot peppers I have to add other ingredients (fruits etc) to get the
ferment started in a timely manner. By timely I mean good activity within 3
days and a pH of 3.8 or lower within 7-8 days. I want it fast because I
don't want to add a lot of salt for safety. I inoculate my ferments with
lactic acid bacteria (kefir whey) or sourdough hooch. The only other
anti-bacterial veggie I've run into is garlic. Pure garlic and water mash
shows no activity even after 30 days @ 80°.
Didn't intend to write a book here. LOL I get carried away. Just wanted
to comment about the canning books.