Re: Tabasco Peppers

**walshevak** 4/26/2011, 7:08 am

shannon1 wrote:I make the pepper vingar with my datil peppers every year but skip the salt and sugar yep just sterlize an air tight jar pack as many peppers (still green) as I can and fill with boiling white vinegar. That's how the old timers here taught me. So good on collards and mustard greens. Make good gifts too.
If you want to use a 5 gal bucket to grow in ask at the deli dept. of your food store and they might give you one for free. That's how I got the one my datil is growing in.

Yep, that's the recipe my grandmother taught me. FYI she would have been 111 this year so we are talking a real old time method. She always used cayenne peppers and apple cider vinegar. Works like a charm and more boiling vineger can be added mid year if you run out. Last year I used a mix of Jalepeno, cayenne, and thai peppers. The tiny red thai peppers filled in the nooks and crannys and added a festive look to the longer green jalepeno and cayennes.

Kay

Nonna.PapaVino 4/26/2011, 10:00 am

Walshevak, your idea to use different colors of peppers sounds beautiful and delicious--each kind adds a different layer of flavor! With more kinds of kale and chard in the garden this year, and three kinds of hot peppers in pots, this will definitely be something I'm going to do, too. Thank you and Buttaflie for an inspiration for a couple of additional Christmas gifts, especially for our vegan friends/family.

Nonna.PapaVino 4/26/2011, 10:19 am

Okay, this is what I put in my computer cookbook, please critique at leisure (I added the thyme sprig for additional glitz, maybe another slight layer of flavor):

Buttaflie's and Walshevak's Pepper Vinegar

Wash and pierce a bunch of small green Tabasco or jalalpeno peppers. Dry them.
Wash and dry some thin red peri peri, cayenne or Thai peppers (or a mix of all three).
Wash and dry a few thyme sprigs (optional).

Sterilize in boiling water bath decorative vinegar bottles to contain your collection of peppers; drain well.

Pack red and green peppers into the jars with a thyme sprig and pinch of salt. Bring a mix of white and apple cider vinegars to a boil and add to bottles to cover the peppers. Seal bottles and let cool.

Store new vinegar in a dark pantry for a couple of weeks before using or giving as gifts.

Lurach 4/26/2011, 10:36 am

Nonna, this recipe sounds wonderful!

I too come from a family of old-school pepper vinegar making - peppers in bottle, add boiling vinegar, repeat as vinegar gets used up. Pepper vinegar is delicious on all kinds of cooked greens. My oldest boy won't eat them without it.

**camprn** 4/26/2011, 11:08 am

Oh Dear, I think you forgot to add the part about putting gloves on before handling the peppers!!!!!!
Tabasco Peppers - Page 2 Hands-on-fire

dizzygardener 4/26/2011, 11:28 am

buttaflie143 wrote:Before planting, cultivate beds to a depth of at least 12” and add a high-nitrogen fertilizer that includes both calcium and magnesium.

I got the above info from the website link provided by Nona. What do you think? I may have to plant these in a separate bed.

You can plant right into your SFG. You don't have to do all this extra work. I think the tabasco plants can get rather bushy and unruly though, so it might be wise to move it to another location like the bucket mentioned above.

buttaflie143 4/26/2011, 11:35 am

Thanks for the additional insight Dizzy!

Miss M 4/26/2011, 12:24 pm

Yep, boiling vinegar poured over the peppers is what my mom does! Very Happy

The Old Creak 4/26/2011, 12:33 pm

I've been putting this up for a long time and have settled on this recipe. Place Tabasco peppers in jar. Add one clove of garlic and 5 or 6 black peppercorns. I barely pinch the top off the peppers to allow the mixture to get inside. Fill with boiling white vinegar, seal and let set for 2-3 weeks. I love it on greens, peas,etc.
Also, I simply refill with unboiled vinegar as required and the flavor does not reduce at least for a year when I start a new batch.

dizzygardener 4/26/2011, 12:43 pm

Hey guys, don't forget to cut a slit in each pepper so that the vinegar can get inside.

The Old Creak 4/26/2011, 12:51 pm

dizzygardener wrote:Hey guys, don't forget to cut a slit in each pepper so that the vinegar can get inside.

barely pinching the top off also works, and his easier Smile

dizzygardener 4/26/2011, 12:53 pm

Whatever floats your boat (so long as you're wearing gloves)!

Nonna.PapaVino 4/26/2011, 1:54 pm

Camprn, no, I didn't forget to add it, an experience years ago made such an impression on me, it's just second nature to take precautions. You are right, though, for a recipe to share, the precaution should be added. How's this? "After chopping the hot peppers, never touch any part of your body you are especially fond of before washing up very carefully."

**camprn** 4/26/2011, 4:27 pm

Last year when I was making salsa, I was processing jalapenos with out gloves; I was being lazy and it was a dumb thin to do... Well, my hands were warm for the first hour it took to do all the cutting I needed to do and I washed up as usual with soap and water. But then after several hours my hands were on fire, cherry

no amount of washing with soap and water was offering relief. Sad

THEN I had an epiphany; :idea: I poured about a teaspoon each of cooking oil and salt into my palm and scrubbed with that for about 4 minutes, then washed again with soap and water. It really cut the capsicum, or what ever chemical from the peppers was burning my skin. The heat came down to a tolerable level pretty quickly !!! Very Happy

Miss M 4/26/2011, 11:05 pm

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:"After chopping the hot peppers, never touch any part of your body you are especially fond of before washing up very carefully."

A few months ago, while making some sausage dip, I had a similar experience to Camprn's... except no epiphany.

I also managed to get chemical burns from garlic almost a year ago. I had no idea that was possible! Shocked

Now I'm afraid to mince the stuff by hand!

Nonna.PapaVino 5/2/2011, 8:38 pm

Buttaflie, with your lead, I'm totally excited now to make up a batch of hot pepper vinegar. Just noticed I have 3, maybe 4, piri piri peppers that have sprouted! Don't know how hot these little suckers will be, but it should be an adventure. Thank YOU for reminding me of a treasured time living in the South, and the incentive to recreate the pepper vinegar!

shannon1 5/2/2011, 11:51 pm

I was tending the garden and noticed my "hot chilli pepper III" has scads of baby peppers on it. cheers

Sponsored content

Tabasco Peppers