I have such a wonderfully ridiculous quantity of peppers in my garden that I had to come up with a project that went beyond simply adding them to everything that I was eating. Quick pickled peppers were the ideal solution. They will last for a long time that way, and they also take up a much more reasonable space!

I decided to keep it absolutely basic with this recipe so that I could really preserve the flavors of the peppers from my garden. I didn’t want it to be boring, though, so I decided to do a little bit of a sweet and sour thing with apple cider vinegar and a very small amount of brown sugar.

Quick and easy pickled peppers

Ingredients:

• 2# peppers thinly sliced (I have jalapeño and rooster peppers in the picture above, separated into different jars. There is no reason you can’t do a mix here!)
• 2 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 Tbs brown sugar
• 1/4 cup salt

Method:

Place sliced peppers into a heatproof container (a bowl or glass jar is perfect).

Combine all other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Immediately pour boiling liquid over the peppers, making sure the peppers are covered completely.

Allow to come to room temperature before placing in refrigerator.

Refrigerate for at least two hours, then enjoy! You can eat them immediately, but they’ll mellow a little as they sit.

What should I do if I don’t like really spicy peppers?

If you know the peppers you have will be too spicy for you, you can remove all of the stems and seeds or blanch them first to get rid of extra heat!

To blanch your peppers, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the sliced peppers (don’t breathe the steam in! It’s spicy!), and as soon as they come back up to a boil, drain them (don’t inhale that steam!). If you want them to be even milder, you can blanch them again or boil them for a couple of minutes before you drain them, but be aware that the more you cook your peppers, the less “crunch” you’ll have.

If you want to preserve the color, put them in ice water immediately after you take them out of the boiling water, but when you pickle peppers, you lose a lot of the brightness regardless of the method you choose.