Candied jalapeño

seedcorn

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Because I hate doing water baths, I want to pressure can them. All recipes I've seen warn against that as it turns peppers into mush. Anyone have a good recipe? What about not cooking the jalapeño the 4 minutes in liquid and just placing them into jar, pour liquid over, can?
 

journey11

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This is what I've been told about pressure canning things that are usually waterbathed...

They only needed to reach boiling point for 10 or 15 minutes, and boiling point is 212 degrees. It is the acid content that preserves them, so it's not really about killing bacteria other than those that die at boiling point of water and sealing the jars.

Since pressure canning will keep them above that temperature (10 pounds pressure will reach 240 degrees), if you choose to pressure can them instead, they will be well above 212 in the time it takes to pressure up the canner and come back down.

For your particular recipe being BWB processed for 10-15 minutes, I would bring up the pressure to 5 or 10 pounds and hold for 5 minutes before removing from the heat. There are no published guidelines for this that I am aware of and you'd want to err on the side of possibly over-processing rather than under-processing.

Texture will be hard to control for some things. Others may boil out of the jar. I've had that happen with apple butter. Sometimes I will pressure can a high acid food just because it's easier for me to set up the pressure canner (inside on the stove) than the BWB which I do outside on a propane burner. The specified method is just the best way to do it to get the highest quality out of the product (except of course, low-acid foods for which you don't have a choice, have to be pressure canned to kill botulism spores.)

I think these jalapenos will do pretty well with pressure canning. They are not supposed to be crisp like a pickle anyway. Go ahead and do the 4 minute pre-boil as written. I think it has more to do with how they settle in the jar and absorb the sugary brine. A fresh pepper has a lot of water in it, so that probably works some of that out.
 

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