Pints of Pickled Peppers

I wanted to take a break from cheese-making failures, so I turned my sights on canning this weekend. Specifically, I am trying to preserve the bumper crop of hot and sweet peppers we've collected over the last few weeks from our farm box. Some of the jalapenos had already gone bad at the bottom of the veggie box, but we still had a cookie tray full of them. Too many to enjoy in omelets or salsas in the coming weeks.

Plus, ever since I bailed on canning the tomato sauce earlier this summer, I felt like a Generation X weeny. What would Mrs. Reynold's think?? So I was determined to try again before the season changed. Peppers seemed like another easy intro.

I tried 2 different recipes for pickling. One is a refrigerator recipe, so although the peppers are in jars, they'll be also kept at a safe temperature for storage. The second recipe was simpler, and is supposedly safe for storing jars at room temperature. But I have to admit, I have no confidence that I haven't just created a nursery for Clostridium botulinum. Anyway, I've got a few weeks before giving them a try. Maybe there's a botulinum home-test for home-canning?

Here's the recipe for the refrigerator recipe.
http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2009/03/michael-symons-pickled-chillis.html

I had to use rosemary, because I didn't have marjoram handy. And I didn't have sherry vinegar, so I used rice vinegar. That one should be ready to try by Thanksgiving.

Here's the non-refrigerator recipe.
http://www.graspr.com/videos/Pickled-Peppers-1

The question is, how much do I trust Rita Heikenfeld and the fact that she said we didn't have to boil the peppers after canning? Is a 3 to 1 vinegar to sugar ratio acidic enough?

Well, there's time to worry about that in a few weeks or maybe in January. For now I have some kinda pretty experiments happening.

Baltimore Oriole in Austin

There was quite the buzz around the house this morning when I got a couple glimpses of this guy at the feeder.

Yeah, I know. The picture quality is sasquatch-esqe, but my little, point-and-shoot telephoto was maxed out. After a little research, I found out that the Baltimore Oriole migrates through Texas in August-September. However, Austin would be on the westernmost edge of the flight path, so having this guy come visit was a real treat.
Hope he ate some squash vine borer moths on his way through....