Pickled Scotch Bonnet Peppers

by Josehf Murchison in Cooking > Canning & Preserving

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Pickled Scotch Bonnet Peppers

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I was interviewed by a journalist last week about my Instructable Gold Recovery, one of the questions the journalist asked was if the one process was dangerous and I described it more no more dangerous than making hot pickled peppers.

Scotch Bonnet Peppers, also known as Caribbean Red Peppers is a variety of chili pepper found mainly in the Caribbean islands. It is named for its resemblance to a Tam o’ Shanter hat. Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville Units for comparison; most jalapeno peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville Scale.

The hottest pepper in the world is the Ghost pepper at 330,000 to 1,532,310 on the Scoville Scale and is used as a weapon as well as a side dish.

Precautions should be taken when cooking hot peppers as people are hospitalized and even killed by hot peppers, eye protection and rubber gloves should be worn at all times and cook in a well-ventilated kitchen.

This is not a joke; the vapors have been known to interfere with a person’s ability to breath and hot peppers are used as chemical weapons.

Ingredients

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Water
White Vinegar
Pickling Salt or Sea Salt
Hot Peppers in this case Bonnet Peppers

Tools

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Safety glasses mine are on my face.
Rubber Gloves
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Measuring cup
Pickling jars I am reusing a Bick’s pickle jar.

Preparing the Hot Peppers

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Put on your rubber gloves and safety glasses first thing and keep them on until you are finished.

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR ANY OTHER DELICATE PART OF YOUR BODY WITH THE GLOVES.

When you are finished rinse the gloves off in cold water before taking the gloves off. You do not want to make the mistake of contaminating your hands and then touching a delicate part of your body you will never forget to not touch yourself while pickling again.

Wash the peppers in cold water.

Some people like there peppers whole I like mine cut into rings and I fill the pickle jar.

The Brine

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Since I am just making 1 one liter jar I will only need 3 cups of brine so to my measuring cup I add 2 cups vinegar 1 cup water and 1 ½ tablespoons salt and stir until all the salt is dissolved then I add the brine to the hot peppers.

For larger amounts just follow this simple recipe.

2 parts vinegar
1 part water
1 tablespoon salt for every two cups of brine.

Cooking

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Place the jars of hot peppers in a pot of cold water and heat, cook the hot peppers in the jar with the lid on loosely, this helps reduce the vapors released by the hot peppers.

DO NOT BREATH IN THE VAPORS.

You can tell the peppers are cooked when they no longer float in the brine.

Finishing the Hot Peppers

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After about an hour take the jars out of the pot, tighten the lids and let cool now you can take off your safety glasses and rubber gloves.

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR ANY OTHER DELICATE PART OF YOUR BODY WITH THE GLOVES UNTIL YOU RINSE THE GLOVES OFF IN COLD WATER. DO NOT EVEN TOUCH THE OUTSIDE OF THE GLOVES WITH YOUR BARE HAND UNTIL YOU HAVE RINSED THEM OFF WITH COLD WATER.

The most common cause of chemical burns while pickling hot peppers is people think food is harmless and then they go tinkle.

Capsicum the active ingredient of pepper spray and hot peppers is neutralized by dairy products so if you do make the mistake of touching yourself put a little cream on it.