How to Can Sweet Peppers

In this posting, I show you how to preserve sweet peppers.

I grow sweet peppers in my greenhouse and recently took the last harvest of the season.  With lots of peppers on hand, I decided to can them for future eating.  I will probably eat most of these as a kind of salad by just drizzling a little olive oil on top and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Canning peppers is similar to canning other vegetables but there is an important additional step required.  As with tomatoes, the outer skin of the pepper can become quite tough, so it is best to remove the outer skin prior to canning.

Blistering Peppers to Remove the Skin

• Wash and dry the peppers.
• Remove the stem and seeds and then cut the peppers in half.
• Place on a cookie sheet or baking dish and place under the broiler in your oven until the skins blacken.  This will take just a few minutes.
  
• Once cool, you find it very easy to remove the skins.

• You can cut the peppers into smaller pieces or can them as is.  I cut my peppers in half one more time so that each piece is a quarter of a pepper. 

Canning Peppers

1. Clean 1/2 pint canning jars and sanitize the jars, lids and bands in simmering water. (For general instructions on canning, see my prior posting that covers Basic Canning of Tomatoes)
2. Place the peppers into hot jars.
   
3. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 tablespoon vinegar to each jar.
4. Top off the jars with boiling water so that they are filled, leaving 1 inch of head-space.
5. Process in a pressure canner for 35 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  (If you live in a location that is at an altitude of above 1,000 feet, increase processing times accordingly.  You can find a table detailing this in my posting on canning tomatoes. Click here to see table of adjustments)
6. When done, allow canner to return to zero pounds pressure and remove the peppers.
7. Allow them to cool.

You'll find these canned peppers have a wonderful roasted flavor.