Holiday Travel – Pickled Jalapeños

I hate traveling on holiday weekends – Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving. Far too much hassle for far too little reward. The frustration of traffic or a crowded airport and airplane, with so little time at the destination, result in a cost far outweighing the benefit. So, one year in graduate school, before I met my wife Marci, I did not visit my parents in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. Instead, I traveled with fellow students to Maine.

Yes, this contradicts my earlier statement, but I was young and less of a curmudgeon, and so my friends and I headed north into the cold rather than south to family. I remember little about the road trip except desolation and freezing temperatures. There was a brief visit to Acadia National Park – too brief to stand out as a highlight. We were marine science students, so we couldn’t resist scrambling over boulders to get to the coastal rocky intertidal habitat at low tide across the street from our depressing motel. As we poked around the tide pools, I recall thinking they were not as abundant and diverse with life as the tide pools on the west coast in Oregon.

I also remember stopping at a farm stand, because it’s always worth stopping at a farm stand even on a cold weekend in Maine. There were no other customers and almost nothing for sale, as the growing season had ended weeks before our visit. But there were baskets of green peppers at a ridiculously low price. I know now as a gardener that these peppers were the last of the season, harvested before they could ripen to red, at the final minute before a killing frost. It was the farmer’s remaining attempt at salvaging the crop to make a few more dollars for the year. They were so inexpensive that I could not resist purchasing a large basket, despite no concept of how I would use the abundance. And of course, I used very few. I’m not a huge fan of green peppers, so most eventually rotted over time on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator.

I am reminded of this trip as I pick the unripe peppers from my garden plants each fall before the first killing frost, usually sometime around Thanksgiving. Most peppers hanging from the branches are still green, and I know they will not get eaten; however, I can’t help but harvest them with the hopes that they will find a place in a future meal. I use any red ones first, and then those that have started to turn red but have yet to fully ripen. The fully green ones sit around the longest, their fate the same as most of those I brought back from Maine.

The exception is hot peppers. Thai birds eye chilis and long hot peppers get frozen. Even if they’re still green, they will get used to heat and flavor a warming coconut curry or in pots of Bert’s beans, where their mushy texture when defrosted is not a problem. Hungarian hot peppers get pickled and are perfect on a sandwich, in a salad, or even on pizza. And jalapeños get pickled as well, along with carrots and garlic from the garden, to make a spicy topping for nachos or maybe tortillas packed with refried beans, steak, or chicken.

I still hate to travel on long holiday weekends, and rarely do. When I decide to take a trip at other less stressful times, I often pack a jar of these pickled jalapeño peppers, harvested from my garden as the weather turns cold, as a zesty gift for my host.

Pickled Jalapeños

I modified this recipe for pickled jalapeños from one given to me by my father, who I believe found it in some small, tattered paperback Mexican cookbook that was on his shelf when I was a kid. The peppers are in a vinegary brine with a covering of oil that helps preserve them for several months in the refrigerator. The sliced peppers are packed with chunks of carrot, slivers of onion, and a whole head of garlic, all of which flavor the peppers and pick up the heat for their own tasty bite.

Jalapeños can vary in their level of spiciness. As a result, I always taste them when slicing to see how hot they are. If it’s excessive, I may remove some of the seeds and internal membranes where the heat is concentrated. If not, I just slice them as is and put them in the skillet. Whichever way, they will make a flavorful addition to your meal.

makes about 1 quart, about 1 hour

⅓ cup vegetable, sunflower, or canola oil

1 lb. fresh jalapeños, rinsed, dried, stems trimmed, and cut into quarters lengthwise, seeds and membrane removed if you want

2 medium carrots peeled and cut onto coins

2 medium onions, sliced thin

1 small head of garlic unpeeled and cut in half horizontally through the cloves of garlic

3½ cups white vinegar

2 Tbsp. kosher salt

2 bay leaves

½ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. dried thyme

1 Tbsp. sugar

1. Heat oil in a deep skillet over a medium-high heat. Add peppers, carrots, onions, and garlic and fry for about 10 minutes until the peppers are a dull green.
2. Add vinegar, salt, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, and sugar and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Liquid should just cover the vegetables.
3. Once cool pack in clean jars and store in refrigerator for up to several months.

Please like and share this post: