Sweet Pickled Peppers are simple to make in your own kitchen. You need clean/sterile canning jars and some type of large pot to make the brine and then to can the sealed jars of peppers and brine in boiling water. Use a canning pot if you have one ... otherwise put two or more layers of dish towel in the bottom of a 10 to 12 quart pot half filled with water, before you put in the jars of peppers about to be canned.
The ingredients listed below are for a batch of about six pints of sweet pickled peppers. I made small test batches and they came out fine, so this recipe is going into Food Nirvana now.
Ingredients: (makes six pints)
1 tablespoon of pickling salt or kosher salt
4 cups of apple cider vinegar (5% strength)
1 1/2 cups of white distilled vinegar (5% strength)
2 cups of water
4 cups of granulated white sugar
8 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 tablespoon of whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon of mustard seed
1 teaspoon of celery seed
6 lbs. (or a bit more) of cleaned, fresh Bell peppers of various colors, and/or mild Mexican peppers, sliced 1/4" to 1/2" thick, in 2" to 3" long strips
1 large sweet onion halved vertically, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 tsp. of food grade calcium chloride to retain crispness (optional)
1/10 of 1 percent sodium benzoate by total ingredients weight as a preservative (optional)
Directions:
In the next step weigh the brine ingredients before adding them to the pot. The idea is you want the total ingredient weight before you add the brine to the peppers so you can add the right quantity of (optional) sodium benzoate to the brine first. Remember to add the weight of the peppers to the weight of the other ingredients before doing the sodium benzoate calculation.
Make the brine in a 10 to 12 quart pot. Place the salt, cider and white vinegars, water, sugar, garlic, onion and spices, calcium chloride and sodium benzoate into the pot and bring the brine to a boil over medium to high heat.
Clean the canning jars with hot water and soap at your sink. Rinse them well in hot water.
Pack the sliced pepper strips into the canning jars. Press down to compact them and make sure you have one pound of pepper strips in each jar.
Use a wide-mouth funnel and ladle hot pickling brine with pieces of garlic, onion and spices over top of the peppers, filling the canning jar but leaving ½-inch of headspace at the top of each jar.
Remove any air bubbles by pressing the contents down with a fork. Wipe the glass rim with a clean, damp paper towel. Center the lid on the jar. Apply/turn the band until the fit is fingertip tight.
Place the filled/sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Adjust the water level to barely cover the jars. Process/boil for 15 minutes. If needed, adjust the time for elevation above sea level. Remove the jars from the water bath and place them on a wood cutting board. There is a bottle removal tool you can buy that makes the canning process easy and keeps you from burning your fingers. Otherwise ladle some hot water from the pot until you can remove the first jar without putting your fingers into the hot water.
Tighten the jar lids and allow the jars to cool completely on the cutting board for 24 hours.
For best flavor, store the sweet pickled peppers in the pantry for 3 to 4 weeks before enjoying them. Keep the jars in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year.
Enjoy. And always refrigerate the jar contents after opening.