Sweet Pickled Peppers - Result!

I know it's not even been a month since I pickled the chilli peppers but I couldn't resist trying them as I've got a load more chillies ripening and I want to know what to do with the them.

 I cracked the jar open at a friends house on Thursday and we all tucked in. They tasted just like a certain brand that you find on supermarket shelves. A little longer in the pickle needed to soften the skins maybe, but a definite hit in our house (and our friends!). They're pretty mild but that's a good thing with a family full of little ones.

Our friends daughter tucking into them

Ev loved them

So next week I'll be pickling the rest of the chillies and going through the same process again. We use these peppers all the time, in sandwiches with cream cheese, chopped up in salads or each fitted with a chunk of feta and eaten as a great snack, but it'll be great to be using our own rather than expensive shop brought ones.

The seeds form these chillies will be in the Seed Swap so if you want some let me know. Next year I'll try and find a similar shaped chilli that's hotter to do some spicier ones for adults only. Anyone recommend a good medium heat chilli that would pickle well? Even better if you've got some seeds to swap with!

Sweet Pickling Peppers

One of the goals I set myself this year was to try to grow some chilli peppers and preserve them in a way similar to my favourite band of pickled peppers, who will remain nameless. I could eat a jar of those peppers a week!

 So this year I went for broke and grew some chillies I had been told were quite similar, Cherry Bomb. They've grown well and each plant has loads of shiny red peppers on, they're not as hot as I would have liked, you can pop a whole one in your month and not feel it too much, but they certainly look the part.

Trawling through the Internet back in June I came across Dani and her amazing blog Eco Footprints - South Africa as she had a recipe for making what I was after.

 The recipe is really simple and can be found on her blog here. The pickling liquid is a mix of vinegar and sugar so it should preserve them for a long time!

Left to soak in salt water over night before the pickling!

Four jars full, they look a little too good - I can't see them lasting long!

I can't wait to try these out! they look just as good as the ones you buy in a shop. My only disapointment is how many peppers you need to fill a jar. To get enough for me to have them every day I'd need hundreds of plants. These four jars are ripe chillies off ten plants! 

Anyone else ever used a really sweet pickle?