Pickled Jalapeno Nacho Rings

Jalapenos are a staple of Mexican cooking and a pretty common and available vegetable here in the southwest. This time of year they are very inexpensive at the farmers market so I came home with about four pounds of them this weekend. I am using a pound of them for an experiment that will hopefully turn out amazing (and I’ll write about it when it does!) but the other three pounds – they were bought with a purpose… Pickled Jalapeno Nacho Rings.

When jalapenos are pickled, they lose a little bit of their heat and become a lot easier to love, especially on nachos and chili. They are sold in grocery stores for a few dollars but they are crazy easy to make! If you have ever wanted to try your hand at canning, this small batch recipe is a great place to start. This recipe makes 4 little pint jars and has minimal ingredients.

The first and most important step of canning anything is to wash the jars and rings with soap and water and then to get the water boiling in the water bath canner. A water bath canner is just a big pot with a rack at the bottom for the jars to sit on. You’ll need to have enough water in the pot that the jars will be covered by an inch of water when they are full. I put the clean jars into the water bath canner while I am bringing the water to a boil and getting everything else ready. (Hint: Be sure to put the lid on so that the water boils faster!)

When the water starts to boil, leave the jars in there for about 10 minutes then carefully remove from the water bath canner to a kitchen towel using canning tongs. This gets them sterilized and ready to be filled. You don’t want to set hot jars onto a cool surface because they could crack – always take them out of the water bath and onto a towel or a rack. Reduce the heat under the canning pot to to medium and keep the lid on to reduce heat loss.

While the pot comes to a boil, wash the jalapenos and, wearing gloves, remove the stems and cut the jalapenos into 1/4 inch coins. Peel the garlic cloves. Set garlic and jalapeno slices aside for now.

In a large pot over high heat, stir together vinegar, water, peppercorns and honey and bring to a boil.

When the mixture hits a boil, stir in jalapeno slices and garlic and then remove the pot from the heat. This is a good time to turn the heat under the water bath canner back to high so that it comes to a boil again.

Divide the jalapenos and garlic cloves between the reserved sterilized jars, packing them down slightly into the jar.

Ladle the brine into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Headspace is the room in the jar from the top of the liquid to the top of the jar. When you process the jars in a water bath canner, the liquid inside will expand and the air will move out. Headspace gives it room to do that.

Wipe the rims of each jar with a damp paper towel and put on the seal. Apply the ring fingertip tight. This means you don’t want to put the ring on the jar too tightly. Just tight enough to hold it on. Using the canning tongs, gently transfer each jar to the water bath canner.

The jars should be covered by at least an inch of water. When you put the jars into the water bath canner, chances are that the water will stop boiling. Let it come back up to a boil and then process (boil) for 5 minutes.

Using canning tongs, remove the jars from the water bath canner and transfer them to a kitchen towel or cooling rack. Leave to cool for 4 hours minimum. If any of the seals are not sealed, reprocess (do the boiling part all over again) or refrigerate and use within about a month.

Once you have made sure that the jars have sealed and they have cooled off, label the jars and store in a cool, dark place. These can last for years on the shelf if you can resist eating them. Enjoy!