Something about growing my own produce and then jarring and pickling them makes me feel so happy! It’s like the epitome of summer! I often times romanticize these events in my head. Like… almost always. I forget about the humidity and the mosquitoes and the kitchen clean up and the squad of “helpers” than slow the process down…Anyways- I recently made candied jalapeños for the 1st time. Oh. My. God. I can definitely say there will never be a time in my future that I don’t have a home made jar of them in the fridge. We’ve been putting them on veggie burgers, tacos, crackers with cream cheese, charcuterie boards, home made pizzas, salads etc.
Last week I had another big harvest of jalapeños. So I made another jar. The recipe is pretty simple. For about 15 jalapeños I cook 1 cup of apple cider vinegar and 2 cups of sugar on the stove.
Then I add a teaspoon of turmeric and a pinch of salt. When it boils I add the sliced jalapeños. Boil for about 5 mins or so and then scoop out the cooked jalapeños into a clean mason jar. Continue boiling the liquid for another 5-10 mins until it thickens up a bit.
When the sauce has thickened you just pour it over the jarred jalapeños! They need to sit in the fridge for a few weeks to get all squishy and delicious. I’m sure you could do a proper canning technique and make a bunch for the winter. But I don’t have time for that business. Maybe some day….
Ok. So here’s where it went south. I make recipes up in my head as I’m going. And I’d say 98% of the time they are fairly successful. I had an idea to add some Trader Joe’s pineapple fruit spread and ginger to my sauce and make a different “summer” variety! So good right??
I think if it was properly executed and I wasn’t juggling a small softball team while doing so it probably would have been a home run. (Like what I did there? 😆) I added about 3 tablespoons plus a Tj’s frozen ginger cube to my sauce and cooked it down a bit longer. My plan was to pour some over my jalapeños. And pour the rest in a jar alone to use as a tofu marinade or something along those lines.
So it turns out that adding the pineapple and cooking it down basically made candy. I essentially made a spicy pineapple caramel… And then poured it over my jalapeños and into glass jars. I didn’t taste it because it was boiling hot and then…kids. I let it cool a while and stuck it in the fridge. The next day my best friend came over to visit and bring me flowers. I gave him a sampling of all the things from my garden is recently pickled. There was a veggie relish, pickled rainbow radishes, 1/2 sour pickles… and my new sauce and pineapple candied jalapeños. I tried to open it and scoop some out and it was like cold taffy! Oh man!! What an enormous disappointment that was. He kindly tasted and gave me honest feedback. We both agreed it would be good if it wasn’t an enormous failure!!! lol
I’ll absolutely try this again but next time cut back the initial sugar and add the pineapple in the beginning!!
Ladybug Mama, a peek at life with 5 girls… 