I was getting ready for vacation, knew I had to get ready for the can jam and thought I may miss out this month.

October is a busy, busy month here.  Work goes through some peak periods, home gets busy and the kitchen really gets rocking as a lot of the local harvest begins to turn towards winter.  This months ingredient is hot peppers and I have already dehydrated 10-15 pounds of peppers already.  Every night of the week was booked with activity – including two visits to my friendly farming friends from Kawartha Ecological Growers.

I smiled and said hi to Emma knowing that I was almost too late for our CSA pickup.  She was exited to see me, `hey it`s the end of the day and we`ve got a lot of hot peppers left – if you take them all we might be able to make a deal.  It was indeed a sign.

I bought 9 pints last night (maybe more) and ended up buying 4 more tonight.  I adore hot peppers and pickled ones are even more lovely.  I got a little too fancy last time I made pickled hot peppers (ider vinegar) and really just wanted nothing but pikled peppers.  Here`s the deets:

1. Wash peppers and slice.  I used a knife as the mandoline was sending seeds across the room (and to waiting puppy).
2. Prepare jars.
3. Boil 5 cups white vinegar, 1 cup water, 4 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons sugar.  I doubled up.
4. Pack peppers in hot jars, ladle boiling liquid on top, leav e 0.5 inch headspace (I used pint jars).  Plae in hot water bath for 20 minutes.
5. Wait for popping sound.

We used all sorts of hot peppers – jalapenos, banana peppers, scotch bonnets and more.  Ontario peppers have been super hot this year and I suspect that these pickles will be hotter than what you normally get in jars.  The heat managed to get through my latex gloves, onto my fingers and magically into my eye as I write this.  It`s a feeling that brings back many memories of the same experience and I find more humorous than concerning these days.

You`ll notice that my ingredients are very simple – this is becoming a larger theme in my preserving and cooking these days.  I had thought this would be the summer than I would become ultra-experimental and add all kinds of crazy combinations and obscure ingredients.  I`m rather enjoying the simple combinations these days and the flexability to change or add to them as I cook later.  For now, I`m just happy having 20 cups of FIRE IN THE HOLE!