I'm a weirdo, I admit it. I have peculiar taste buds. I enjoy sauerkraut, but hate cabbage. I don't like tomatoes, but love tomato sauce. I love cheese...but only sharp to seriously sharp cheddar. I won't eat cheese with bread or on sandwiches. The one exception...a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But in order for the cheese to be on this sandwich, there must also be potato chips on the sandwich...and the occasional stray pickle. I love boiled eggs, but will not eat fried, poached, scrambled, deviled or pickled eggs.
Most southerners are pickling fools and enjoy a variety of "pickled" foods...pickled beets, pickled okra, pickled corn, pickled peppers, pickled sausage, pickled asparagus, pickled onions, pickled watermelon rinds (from my friend Donna) and many other things...most of which will not cross these lips, ESPECIALLY pickled pig's feet and pickled pig's ears. Yep, you read that right. Blech and gag! Yessir, down here in the south, we are pretty adept at pickling just about anything.
With the weirdness of my taste buds, I only eat a few pickled items...sauerkraut, pickles, bell peppers, olives (green, not black) and Greek peppers. Occasionally I will risk my life for jalapeno peppers (I'm highly allergic to them).
While I was preparing pickles, I decided to go ahead and pickle some bell peppers. I love pickled bell peppers, but do not like stuffed bell peppers and do not like unpickled bell peppers in my salad or on anything else I eat. See...WEIRDO!
Pickling bell peppers is a pretty simple process and you can eat them after they have "pickled" for a couple of days. I like them crunchy rather than soggy, so I start eating them as quickly as I can. This deal is easy peasy and you can't really screw it up.
Supplies:
Apple Cider vinegar (amount depends on how many peppers you have and what size jars you have)
Fresh green bell peppers
Mason Jars with rings and lids
Start by sterilizing your mason jars.
You can get any size you want for the peppers, but I used the half-pint jars since that is what I had available. While the jars are boiling and draining, wash your peppers and cut them into slices.
Also, bring a few cups of apple cider vinegar to a boil. Once your jars are ready, place the sliced peppers into the jars (as many as it will hold) and pour the hot vinegar over them, leaving about a 1/2 clearance at the top of the jar. Tighten the lid and ring on the jar and move to the next one. Wait for the "ping". After all, "it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that "ping", do wop, do wop, do wop"...sorry! ;-)
These peppers can be served with any meal and you can chop them up and put them on a salad if you want a little "bite" to the salad.
I'm going to strongly suggest you do not eat pickled pig parts....you will not like it. And believe it or not, you can find them on grocery store shelves here in the south. Scout's honor!!
Oh, and before I forget...the pickles were excellent! ~doing the happy dance because I didn't screw them up~ On one of the jars the lid never would "ping", so I opened it. I ate every pickle in the jar! Seven
Benita,
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! Goodness it is so nice to meet you and come back to Texas, we miss you!! I know just how you feel, we moved away for a few years and our hearts ached to get back here, so here we are, even getting ready to build a brand new house! woohoo!
Now, to these pickled peppers (yum) and you just know our Texas taste buds would love theses . I love your writing and photography- seriously going to give these a try!
Xo
Jemma
Hi Jemma, thank you so much for the sweet words! We do miss it and hope to get back soon! I was raised in Alabama, but feel such a kindred spirit with Texans, as though I were born there instead! :-) Awesome on building the new home! I know it is an exciting project and can't wait to see it on your blog! You will like the pickled peppers if you like tart foods. If not, they will give you a pucker that no sour lemon can compete with! :-) Let me know what you think if you give them a try! Have a great day! Hugs!!
DeleteWhen I could eat bell peppers, I soaked them in cider vinegar for a day, then tossed them in a salad. I really only like raw vegetables. Try pickled watermelon rinds - I bet you like them. You left off pickled eggs - Knott's calls theirs Pickled Peeps. I had a student who brought pickled pig's feet for lunch each day. I had to buy a small cooler to keep the horrible things while we had class. Oh, and I LOVE pickled cauliflower.
ReplyDeleteSo you know the flavor well then?! :-) Sour and crunchy! I will definitely have to give the watermelon rinds a try. Pickled peeps? Interesting name....but I still couldn't eat them...LOL Ewwww, on the pickled pig's feet! Those things are so disgusting....LOL. I've never tried pickled cauliflower. I will look for a recipe for that! Don't be surprised when you see another post about these things....LOL
DeleteNow these I've never tried !! I do love pickled green bean's though, yummmm. As for the pickled pig's feet, yes they sell them in Ohio. My mom used to eat them, I was traumatized for day's !!!!! Thank's for giving me a new song to sing, I was on the "Put the Lime in the Cocunut, what a friend. Haha Big Hug's , TT
ReplyDeleteThey are a different flavor…very tart! :-) My mom used to eat those things also…just gagged me and I couldn’t stand the smell. You will have to read tomorrow’s post. I elaborate a tiny bit about the pig’s feet and added a sentence after I read your comment. :-) I still can’t get that song out of my head…so I also put that in tomorrow’s post..LOL. Big Hugs back at ya!!!
DeleteI used to be a pickling maniac in my younger days. My house reeked of vinegar until October. No pig products in my pickling kettle but I remember my father eating them back before everyone got all health conscious.
ReplyDeleteI used to pickle bell pepper relish that made soup beans (what we called pinto beans) taste wonderful, but never tried pickling just the bell pepper strips. I'm sure I would love them.
I love the way you wrote about your peculiar taste buds! You're a doozy, Benita, as Boolie used to tell his mother, Miss Daisy!
Thank you so much Dewena! :-) My peculiar taste buds drive people insane sometimes...LOL! I always tell them to not ever try to prepare a meal I will eat. :-) Unless it is turnip greens and cornbread with some fresh onion, then they better have a bottomless pot!
DeleteThe only thing I can remember my mother ever pickling was bell peppers...and she still does. She tried pickles once and had to throw them out. So she kept it simple, as do I. :-) And my mother used to eat those pig's feet things also...I would have to go outside...LOL. I love that movie - it is one of my favorites!!! It would have been better if it had starred Cary Grant or Gregory Peck, but they weren't around. :-(
Hey Benita, I've never had pickled watermelon rinds, something new to try! I LOVE pickled carrots and pickled eggs. My dad used to make these with beet juice to turn them pink! I can eat any other color pepper, except green. Happy dancing with you, that your pickles turned out! =)
ReplyDeleteHave a beautiful day!
hugs, Christine
Hey chick! I’ve not had the watermelon rinds either, but am going to give them a try. Donna says they are good. I’ve seen the pickled eggs that are in pink juice. I didn’t know that was beet juice…interesting! I’ve never had pickled peppers with any other color but green. I would suppose any color of the peppers could be used for pickling. AND it would be pretty in the jars! :-) I was so excited about the pickles!!! So, thank you!! :-) Have a great day and evening! Hugs!!!
DeleteI am not into many things pickled, except pickles! I do recall, in the recesses of my memory, eating pickled pigs feet when I was a kid. And I live in Upstate NY! I think it was an Italian thing. I also tried baby octopus, squid and frogs legs as a kid. Also an Italian thing I think. I was pretty naïve as a kid.....I say yuck now to the frogs legs and pigs feet. I do eat squid as calamari now.
ReplyDeleteWell, you saw my "pickled" list...LOL. It's short. I think the pig's feet might be some sort of Italian thing, as my dad is Italian, but I don't remember him eating them, just my mom. No octopus, squid or frog legs here....but the hubster likes frog legs. He says they taste like chicken! :-) My youngest son will eat calamari....not me! :-)
DeleteI have had pickled pig's feet...used to be a staple in my house...a very unfortunate fact. I don't know why my Italian relatives all loved them. We used to get them from the Italian pork store up the road. I remember liking them as a kid (and you think you're a weirdo!), I outgrew that taste. Needless to say that today anything pickled is really not my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI was telling a couple of the other girls that my mother used to eat them...I couldn't stand the smell. I think it had to be an Italian thing since you, me and AnnMarie are all Italian and this item was in our households regularly. I'm sure my grandparents had them also, along with snails (which they used to eat regularly). Bless your heart! I will light a candle for you. ;-) My mother refused to make me try anything else after I threw up fried green tomatoes all over the table, so I was spared this pork trauma. I faintly recall my younger sister eating them with her. And I don't blame you one single bit for not wanting to eat anything else pickled. :-)
DeleteYou do have some rather strange food habits, I must say! Did I read potato chip ON a sandwich? I can't eat peppers and certainly couldn't eat anything like jalepenos due to acid reflux problems. Potato chips IN the sandwich, huh?
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Brenda, I most definitely do have weird taste buds! LOL And yes, potato chips in or on the sandwich. It's actually very good, sort of like putting your french fries on the hamburger, which is only good at McDonald's though. And like using Wendy's fries as a spoon for your frosty. I know it is bizarre...LOL My sisters have reflux issues and can't eat them either. Fortunately, I've been spared so far. After Thanksgiving, the hubster looks forward to his leftover turkey, potato chip and mustard sandwich!
DeleteWell you do have quite the combination of likes and dislikes going on here! :) I had to laugh...
ReplyDeleteLOL...indeed I do! I laugh at myself about it all the time!!
Deletemy mum used to pickle everything. I have not inherited that trait, even though I like sour stuff... hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThese are pretty simple, that's why I chose to do these. Otherwise, I would be depending on store bought! :-)
DeleteI like potato chips on my pb&j too! Fritos are good on there as well. I like pickled vegetable, but nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe foods I can't stand the most are.. tapioca, rice pudding (not gonna tell you what those look like to me in polite company), and flan. GAG.
The pickled peppers looks good :)
xo
Oooohhhh, YES, Fritos are delicious on a PB&J!! I used to love the little “Frito Bandito” erasers than came in the 6 pack of chips….telling my age…LOL. I am so with you on rice pudding and tapioca…..those are things that do not cross these lips. Never tried flan and don’t think I ever will. The peppers are delicious! The hubster doesn’t like them either so I have them all to myself! Hugs!! :-)
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