Cowboy Candy

I have read about many canners who love making a water bath canning recipe called Cowboy Candy. Basically this is pickled jalapeno peppers. I do not myself enjoy a hot pepper but I believe I know many friends who will gladly take the jars as treats. My local Hispanic grocery often runs weekly specials on fresh jalapeno peppers 2 pounds for a $1. I bought 4 pounds last week and tried a new recipe. There are many different Cowboy Candy recipes on the web. I went with the recipe from the Ball website.

The most fraught portion of this recipe is preparing the peppers. You must wear gloves when handling the peppers. Carefully wash your hands before touching your face after you have removed the gloves. The oils from the peppers are not meant to be anywhere near your eyes or nose.

I washed the peppers, put on gloves and got to chopping. After I had chopped all the peppers I made the brine and heated it on the stovetop.

Once the brine was hot I added in the cut peppers. I heated them for about 15 minutes (as stated in the recipe) until the color had changed. This allowed me time to preheat the jars I needed. My DH said the smell of the brine and peppers simmering was delicious.

I ended up with 5 1/4 pints. The recipe actually yielded 10 jars due to the smaller sized jars I used. I did not think most people would want to open a pint jar of the snack. We might have to open a jar in a day or two (once they are completely cooled for an at home taste test.