canning peppers

my mom and dad have really gotten into canning in the past 5 years or so.  they do it because they love having the food around during the winter and because they enjoy it. 

early in the week, my dad asked if i was prepared to be a migrant worker on saturday = we are canning.  he picked up a bushel of green and hot peppers from a lady with an incredible garden just up the road from us with the intention of canning peppers in sauce.  we started before 8 am washing, cutting, and drying them out.  most of the italians in the area will tell you that the peppers should dry for days after wiping them down and cutting them, since they produce so much water in the jars. we weren't that prepared. we let ours dry until mid-afternoon...

the hot peppers are no joke when you are cutting them. gloves are required...as are lab goggles as far as i'm concerned. don't laugh. does this really surprise you? later in the day, i grabbed a knife that still had hot pepper juice on it. my hand was en fuego the rest of the day and kept me up part of the night....

 

boo was being awfully quiet while i was cutting peppers. she had found a way to entertain herself...

bless her little heart...she's so dark. we are never going to get a good picture of her sweet little face.

 

while the peppers were drying and my parents ran errands, i made the sauce. this recipe comes from some of our italian friends and is fantastic.  onions, garlic, olive oil, tomato paste, tomato puree, tomato juice, water, salt, sugar, and handfuls of fresh basil. absolutely delicious!

once the peppers were dried out enough, they got fried in some oil and combined with sauce. we only cook them long enough to get hot rather than soft (the pressure cooker practically turns them to mush later). then, into hot jars with lids...

 

and into the pressure cookers....

 

some folks don't pressure cook their jars. my dad insists...to make sure the food is as safe as possible. we also did the same process with the hot peppers in sauce, only these got weiners as well. sound gross, but it's pretty good...

once the last jar was finished, it was almost midnight, and we were all pooped.  we ended up with 17 pints of sweet peppers and 26 pints of hot peppers and weiners. the bad part about canning is, you go through all that trouble and then by the end you are dying to crack some open. our final tally may have to be adjusted over the next few days ;-)