Can

The first step of roasting the peppers can be done earlier in the day than when you get your water bath going. Or, you can really create a sauna in the kitchen and do it all in one. Refer to my advice about cold drinks and good friends above.

It bears mentioning that this is an easy recipe to double, or otherwise adjust in quantity. You just need to have enough of the brine to cover the peppers and the quantities are pretty easy to divide and multiply.

You will need:

4 lbs of red or green bell peppers

1 cup bottled or strained the fresh lemon juice

2 cups white vinegar (6% acidity) (read more here about acid & canning)

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

You can place whole bell peppers under the broiler OR you can cut the stem out of the bell and pull out whatever seeds and ribs come with it. I did it this way most recently and felt that it was a less hot mess to deal with when skinning.

Place peppers on the racks of your oven set to broil. Turn the oven light on, and be nearby with tongs. In my oven, the bells were ready to be turned the first time in about 10 minutes. This is awkward, hot, and difficult to the uninitiated because bell peppers aren’t exactly easy to turn and even a gal with a messy kitchen like me tries to not end up with bell pepper juice all over the floor. You might be well advised to place a cookie sheet or other pan on the lowest rack to catch the drips or errant little peppers. I’d be lying if I said I had the sense to do so, but as I write this, I feel like I definitely might do it next time.

Continue turning peppers till they are charred on as many sides as you can get beneath the broiler.
​

They will likely get charred and done at slightly different times, so as they are ready to be removed, place them in a bowl with a lid. As they cool, the skin will become easier to pull off.

Either while the peppers are cooling or while they are roasting, assemble the canning liquid that they will be swimming in and get your jars ready and water bath boiling. I like wide mouth half pints personally but of course, use what you have.

Once the oven is off, the lid is on the bowl and you’ve cooled off a bit with a said friend and drink, start peeling the skins from the peppers. This is not an exercise in perfection (nothing on this blog will ever be, Wildflowers) but in patience. Not all of the skin will come off, but all of the skin you do peel off will stick to the various surfaces it comes in contact with including your hands, clothing and the countertops. I usually stand with the compost pail to one side and the cutting board to the other, peeling and placing the done peppers on the board. If you are able, remove the bulk of the seeds as you work.

Here’s a short video of me in my tiny, steamy kitchen peeling peppers. It’s a casual Periscope broadcast but it gives an idea of what the peppers will look like before and after peeling.

Once they are all peeled, the bulk of the work is over and you should feel great excitement for all the yummy dishes in which you will use the peppers.

Bring the lemon juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, and salt to a boil in a wide preserving pan.

Follow standard water bath canning practice described in detail here or in any good canning cookbook and pack the chopped bells into jars and ladle the hot brine atop the peppers, leaving ½ headspace. Remove bubbles from the jar with either a chopstick or the back of a spoon and by pressing down gently. Wipe the rims carefully, as even a smidge of oil can thwart the creation of a seal. Add the lids and rings and return to the water bath pot. Bring to a rolling boil and process for 15 minutes.

And that’s it, Dear Readers! It is a recipe that I return to year after year and it is absolutely worth the chore of peeling those hot, slippery bell peppers. I’d love to hear how you’d use these up, Wildflowers! Please share in the comment section below to which dishes you’d add these peppers!

I think canning is a skill everyone should learn. To me, canning is cooking in advance, and in a way that is totally elevated from freezer meals and the clever use of leftovers. To preserve really good produce at home means you can have that really good produce 6 months later (you probably knew that) AND it can be totally delicious by itself. Because I can tomatoes, months later I open a jar, dump it on some pasta and I don’t have to add much if anything at all to make an awesome supper. A storebought jar of pasta sauce doesn’t come close to what you or anyone with a good canning recipe would want to measure; nutrition, taste, versatility, or satisfaction. Canning has improved my cooking (and thus eating) immeasurably. What you preserve in jars can be miles more delicious, more healthful, and more immediately useful than what you get at the grocery store. You don’t have to try canning because it is hip, green, or cool. Try it because it has to power to make your mealtimes infinitely more satisfying.

This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are my own. 

Canning is a mysterious and amazing thing. This post will attempt to clarify one aspect of canning and hopefully my Dear Readers will feel more confident taking their first water bath plunge. As an English teacher, I hope to make a really science-y thing understandable to any eager water bath canner, regardless of the last time you saw a piece of litmus paper or read the introductory chapter of nearly any good canning cookbook. Here we go…

Foods have a pH value, denoted by a number. Low numbers mean higher acid (limes are a 1.8) and higher numbers mean less acid (spinach is a 6.5). An acidic environment (inside your canning jar) prohibits the growth of spoilers, which can make us sick and can cause our hard work to be wasted. To safely water bath can, one element that must be present is a safe acid level.

 We preserve foods that are naturally high in acid and/or we add ingredients to our recipes to bring the acid level up. For example, strawberries are a great choice for any canner because they naturally are acidic at a 3. Strawberry jam recipes often are very, very simple because you just need sugar and the berries to reach a safe acid level.

The important number that recipe creators and curious canners need to keep in mind is 4.5. Any number higher than that and the recipe will call for something to bring the acid level up (and the number down). Green beans are a 4.6 – not acidic enough all by themselves to safely water bath can, but, what about the old fashioned favorite Dilly Bean?! They are canned safely because of the addition of vinegar (quite acidic at about 2.0-3.4 depending on variety). This is why vegetables (generally lower in acid) are often pickled in vinegar, and fruit (generally higher acid) is practically foolproof and a great starting point for a new preserver.

Tomatoes are the perfect example of this pH scale and its importance. We tend to think of tomatoes as being really acidic but they are actually at about a 4.2- 4.9, depending on all kinds of things like where they were grown and their variety. Most recipes for canning tomatoes call for either lemon juice or citric acid to be certain that the acid level is safe. Unless you are going to measure the pH level of the tomatoes you haul home from the farmer’s market, you must follow the recipe even if the tiny bit of citric acid seems unnecessary or the whole lemon you have on hand seems just as good as a jug of store bought lemon juice. Store bought lemon juice is verified to be a specific acid level. You would have no way of knowing if your whole lemon happened to be a bit less acidic than need be. Thus, it is critical to follow the recipe to maintain safety in canning.

This science lesson is applicable to a canner who might feel inclined to step out of the recipe safe-zone and into lower acid territory. One should ALWAYS follow a recipe from a trusted source when preserving food in jars. However, it is important to understand the chemistry so you make wise canning decisions, Wildflowers. I confess; I am a corner cutter, rule breaker, and shortcut taker 9 times out of 10 but NOT with canning.

The pH values of various foods list is available on the FDA website in a very long and not so easy to read format, so I created a FREE downloadable PDF for my readers for your reference. The PDF is condensed and easier to read than the list on the site, and you can print it or read it on your phone while you’re canning away in the kitchen:)

The idea with this list is you can refer to it to check if it is safe to replace lemon juice with lime (probably safe because their acid levels are very similar) or replace apricots with figs (definitely NOT because apricots are in the safe zone of 3.3 and figs are a 4.6). This tool is meant to educate and inform. I mentioned apricots and figs purposely. You might think, hey, they are both sweet, about the same size, it won’t matter if I swap out some of the apricots for figs…but it matters a lot. Canning is not like regular cooking where you can make substitutions willy-nilly. You might also notice the wide range of acid values for some produce. That should also indicate to you the necessity  to check the list, or better yet, find a trusted recipe. 

Download the free Acid & Canning Chart here!