It's Canning Time!

I always love that time of year when someone you hold dear hands you two beautiful bags of fresh peppers. I was given banana peppers and green hot peppers from my boyfriend's mother who gave me the challenge of pickling the banana peppers and making pepper jelly.  I will be posting my pepper jelly at a later date, but here is my rendition of canning banana peppers and it is pretty easy!

Materials:
11 Pint Jars with lids(Whatever size you would like is fine, I used regular mouth pint jars)
1 Gal Distilled White Vinegar
Jar Funnel
Ladel
Tongs
Large Pot
Knife
Cutting Board
Banana Peppers (I just had a grocery sack full, I didn't need to use all of them)

So, first thing is preparation which really is where the hard work is. It is EXTREMELY important that you do not skip the step of the sterilization process of these jars. If you have a dishwasher, wash them on the hottest setting with nothing else in the dishwasher with regular dishwasher detergent. If not wash them by hand in the hottest water you can stand. I just do not trust my dishwasher so I wash mine by hand. (Yes, I know they come straight from the package and are already clean, but they are not sterile.)
Wash away, get them nice and shiny clean!

Next you need to get those peppers clean. I just rinsed these off in cool water really well and ran each one through my hands under the water. Then lay them out on a towel to dry. 

Next thing to do is to get those peppers cut up! Just slice them however you will want them out of the jar. I slice them like they have them in Papa John's pizzas. 

Just cut the tops and bottoms off and slice. I leave the seeds for kick. Place the slices in a bowl and set aside. You will need to sanitize the jars next. Heat up a very large pot of boiling water. Be extremely careful, my mother and myself have burned ourselves many times while trying to do this, so if you want to spend the extra money to get a jar grabber, they are about $8 at Walmart and really safe. I didn't think I would need them so I just used my tongs. 

Once the water is boiling, I dropped 3 cans at a time. Completely submerge them for 30 seconds under the boiling water then pick them up and set them on a towel to dry. Do the same with all the lids and seals. 

While those are drying it's time to get the vinegar ready. I used distilled white vinegar and ended up using the whole gallon. The best way to do it is measure a little at a time and heat it up. 

Heat up the vinegar on the stove, I used the same pot I sanitized the jars with.

While the vinegar is coming to a boil flip those cans over and fill them to the brim with pepper slices. 

Once the vinegar is boiling and all the jars are filled, use the jar funnel and your ladle to ladle in the vinegar, filling to the very top of the jar, you really don't want any air. Place the seal then the lid on the can. I use a towel to hold the jars because they will be really hot and so I can have a good grip to twist the lids as tight as they will go.

Once they are all filled and lidded, put them on the counter and DO NOT TOUCH THE LIDS!!! This will ensure they are sealed properly. And if you have canned before you know that sound of lids popping is the best sound in the world after all that work. If you hear all the cans pop, check them after awhile to make sure they all sealed good. All of mine did, but if yours didn't after about an hour, just repeat the process of canning and re-sanitize. Make sure the seal fits perfectly and doesn't have any blemishes. And wipe the seal off before placing on the can and they should look something like this!

BEAUTIFUL! Label and put them away or give them away!
Any questions, please comment below!

Go CAN!!

Kaitlin