Monday, September 28, 2009

A Peck of Pickled Peppers

Well, sort of. The farm share has had all sorts of peppers lately, and I found a recipe I wanted to try for red and green pepper relish from The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving. My challenge today was to figure out the volume that 4 red and 4 green peppers and 4 onions, when chopped, would have made and compare it to the volume of peppers I had (all sizes and shapes) and guess how much onion and liquid to add. I think I did OK. It's a multi-step thing where you have to boil the vegetables in water and vinegar, drain them, and then add boiling vinegar/water/sugar/salt solution. I ended up multiplying the first round of liquid by 6, and the second round of ingredients by 3. Probably that was too much, as my final product was only twice the expected yield of the original recipe. But I don't think it hurt anything to have extra liquid which just didn't get used in the end. Regardless, I now have 4 pints of red and green pepper relish. And, since I worked all weekend, I'm too tired to do anything more!

3 comments:

  1. That's a lot of math. I never would have figured it out.

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  2. It's like one of those cooking reality shows for math geeks: "you have a bowl of peppers, a knife, and an unmeasurable recipe. Go!"

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  3. I agree with Sue. I never would have figured that out! Your blog has inspired me to lighten up on following the canning 'rules' completely. I love that there can still be creativity in canning. I've been creative with my canned salsa for years, but now there is a whole new spectrum of creativity for me! Gotta go! I have some jalapenos calling my name! Jalapeno jelly is on my schedule tonight!

    Btw: a friend gave me The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving about a year ago. LOVE IT! The Sweet Garlic Dills are one of my daughter's favorites. This same friend that gave me the book has made some wonderful fruit liqueurs that she made from the recipe in that book! Raspberry, blueberry, lemon, peach, and coffee!

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