Back in July 2011 I pickled some Serenade Chillies that I had picked from a plant in my garden. I used a cider vinegar & salt mix as the pickling liquid.
The idea was to find out whether I could produce pickled chillies that are comparable in quality to the pickled jalapenos that are sold by Discovery Foods, Old El Paso and others. I was also interested in determining the shelf life of the pickled chillies and whether they lost any colour, flavour or texture over time.
So, here are the fresh Serenade chillies, before I washed them and cut slits in them to allow the pickling liquid to penetrate.
And here they are immediately after I pickled them:
They looked very vibrant and fresh immediately after pickling. Then, over the course of the first couple of weeks that vibrancy diminished. After a month I opened the jar and tried one - it had a crispness to it that you don't get with the shop bought pickled chillies.
Then I sealed the jar back up and stuck it in the fridge to see how long they would keep.
I just took one out today, after they have been in the jar for 6 months, and sliced it up to do a taste test.
The colour, taste and texture are all stable compared to how they were when I did my first taste test.
This makes me confident that I can pickle a load of jalapenos and serrano chillies in the same way this year.
Recent Comments