There are SO many peppers out there that you can grow but we most recently decided to plant Mad Hatter Peppers. They are named as such because they look a bit like the Mad Hatter’s hat, just tiny, and edible. They are a slightly sweet pepper from South America and are not very spicy (650 Scoville units).
When we first started harvesting the Mad Hatters, we were using them in salads or sautéing them for tacos. Eventually, we had so many that I had to come up with a solution on how to keep them and be able to enjoy them when the plant stopped producing, which is when pickling came to mind. Pickled Mad Hatter Peppers are a great way to preserve your bounty. They’re super easy to make and are great on salads and sandwiches.
Quick Pickling Brine
When pickling anything, I tend to use a quick pickling method. This allows me to make a big batch of brine and use it on a multitude of veggies such as cucumbers, red onions, asparagus, or green beans. I make the brine and then add different spices to each jar to change up the flavors. A quick pickling brine consists of equal parts vinegar and water with some sugar added in. That’s it! You just combine, heat to dissolve the sugar, and pour over your vegetable of choice.
Pickled Peppers
For pickled peppers, I use peppercorns and whole allspice. I like to keep the flavors simple for peppers so that their flavor shines through. For other veggies, I add in additional spices such as dill, garlic, or red pepper flakes.
Pickled Mad Hatter Peppers
Difficulty: Easy20
minutesIngredients
- Pickling Brine
Mad Hatter Peppers
1 cup White Vinegar
1 cup Water
1/4 cup Sugar
- Pickling Spice
1 Tbsp Whole Peppercorns
1 tsp Whole Allspice
Directions
- Combine the Pickling Brine ingredients together in a large pot and turn the stove top to high to set mixture to boil, stirring often to dissolve sugar. Mixture can be removed from heat once sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool down.
- Wash peppers and slice. Mad Hatter Peppers are very small so I opted to slice crosswise to make rings. To fill a 10 oz. canning jar, I used about 10 peppers.
- Place pickling spices into jar followed by sliced peppers.
- Pour cooled down Pickling Brine over peppers into the jar and seal.
- Place in fridge. Pickled peppers will be done in 2-3 weeks.
Pingback: Gardening in the Arizona Desert – Newfound Kitchen