The temperate climate and abundant sun where I live give me multiple harvests during a growing season. With 16 plants across four species, I have hundreds of peppers coming in. Pickling them is a terrific way to preserve them. Here are 7 basic rules you want to know for pickling your own.
Candied Peppers: How-to
Harald Zoschke’s excellent article on candied chiles is another great way for preserving your little garden hotties and it makes them sweet to boot. Here’s the process he wrote up for us in Candied Capsicums. You can also check his original story for recipe inspiration.
Building a Pepper Dryer
Usually when I play with wood, it doesn’t involve vegetables. Moreover, most times I finish in less than a month. Making this solar pepper dryer, though, was a notable exception to both. Part conversation piece, part raisin maker, the box dryer is a cheap way to dry vegetation without sucking juice from a power grid. I swear some of my neighbors thought I was building a coffin when I started. Glaring at them and nodding my head did little to discourage this, but I’m kind of twisted like that.
How-to: Making Chile Powder
Most of us are harvesting our chile bounty right now. If you’re new, the big question confronting you is what to do with all of these pepper pods. Smoke ’em? Dry ’em? Give them away? There’s plenty of information on what to make of pods here but if powder is your poison, here’s what you can do according to the pope.
Burn! Tested: All Spice Cafe Caribbean Spice Sauce
I don’t so much eat All Spice Cafe’s Caribbean Sauce as mainline it like pepper heroin. It’s really tasty to me. Cayenne pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon are the major players in it but you’ll also pick up a bit of turbinado sugar and black pepper when it hits your taste buds.
New Mexico Chiles: History Legend, and Lore
With most firsthand account books, someone dies or at the very least you get a graphic description of some horrible event, complete with gory photos. This is typically followed by a round of talk show appearances, and up until a few years ago, crying on TV in front of Oprah. You wont’ find any of that crap in this upbeat chile love letter. Unlike many eyewitness-esque works, Kelly Urig’s New Mexico Chiles: History, Legend, and Lore is a positive tribute to an icon from the writer’s childhood. Here’s what I mean…
Breadless Jalapeno Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe
Years ago, Jack-in-the-Box ran an ad with the lines, “But why a bun? A bun’s neither meat nor cheese.” They were joking. I wasn’t when I stole the idea and used Yanni Jalapeno Grilling Cheese as the bread for this sandwich. The company makes two types of grilling cheese and my cheese-only grilled cheese sandwich idea seemed like a great test flight for their products.
