Remember last week when I told you all about my canning marathon? Yeah, there has been no more canning in our house this week, I decided it was time for a canning break - it was that or I would start twitching at the sight of tomatoes and that could be awkward. This weekend Allen had me rearrange all of the storage for my jars and canned goods because for some strange reason he didn't think that storing them on the counter all year was a good idea (he's so picky!) Now the canned goods and canning supplies are all pretty and organized and ready for use. YAY!
One of the things that I canned last week I decided to call Hot Pepper Spread because I really didn't know what else to call it. Growing up in New Jersey, ordering a hoagie with hot peppers meant getting a sort of spread. It's hot peppers that are all chopped up and spread on your sandwich and is super tasty. For some reason when I moved south, the spread disappeared. It doesn't seem to exist here. After getting a whole mess of hot peppers and trying to figure out what to do and of course, going through all sorts of pretty pictures and rabbit trails on Pinterest, I decided to give the hot pepper spread a try.
Can I just tell you how much I love this stuff??? It is so good. It has the right amount of heat but it doesn't knock you over and kill you. I made myself a super tasty burger and spread the hot pepper godness all over the burger and ummm.... HEAVEN! It gave my burger the heat and bite and sheer yumminess that I wanted. I seriously want to put this stuff on everything. It's going to be my downfall though because I only made a small amount since it was a total experiment. Now that I know it works, it may be time to find Peter and have him pick me a peck of peppers!!!
Hot Pepper Spread - printable recipe
makes 2-3 1/4 pint jars
1 3/4C chopped hot peppers (I used cherry peppers, long hots and a couple habaneros)
1 C cider vinegar
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 C sugar (I want to lower this a tad next time)
Prepare your 1/4 pint jelly jars and prepare your water bath. Chop all of your hot peppers (I used a food processor). Put the hot peppers in a small saucepan and add the salt. Let the peppers sit for about an hour. After the hour you will see a lot of the liquid has left the peppers. Add the vinegar and sugar to the pot and simmer for about 30-45 minutes. The liquid will get thicker and almost to a syrup consistency. Ladle into a hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. After wiping the jars, place lids and bands on and process in the water bath for 10 minutes.
So good people. So good.
