As you know by now, the jalapeño harvest has been pretty good in the BBQLovers household this year. But what do you do with all that fruit? Yes, it’s actually called a fruit, oddly enough.
Pickled jalapeño is genuinely great. You know the kind you can buy for taco Friday. Making your own is 100 times better though, and usually with a bit more heat too.
Pickling your own jalapeños is very easy, and it works just fine with any chili pepper. Here I actually put in two Trinidad Moruga Scorpions as well. Not because they’re so pleasant to eat, but it’s good to have them preserved for when someone wants to taste the world’s hottest chili.
If you’d rather save the chili with smoke, I also have a recipe for homemade chipotle.
The most fun part of all is almost growing them yourself. Chili is actually much easier to grow than many people think, and the feeling of standing there with your own little jalapeño harvest is hard to beat. From a few tiny seeds to plants full of fruit, it’s a bit like magic, just with soil under your nails and a certain risk that you suddenly have 17 different chili varieties on the windowsill.
If you want to try it yourself, you’ll of course find chili seeds at our sister site ChiliLovers.nu. There’s everything from milder varieties that are perfect for pickling, tacos and burgers, to those small angry little rascals that mostly seem to exist to test your self-confidence.
Jalapeño is a really good variety to start with if you’re new to growing chili. It’s versatile, moderately hot, usually fairly kind to grow, and perfect for pickled chili. And trust me, once you’ve tried pickling your own jalapeños from your own plants, the store-bought jar suddenly feels a bit like buying a ready-grilled sausage at the gas station when you have a smoker at home.
Recipe: Pickled Jalapeños: Easy Recipe for Pickled Chili
