Pickled Jalapenos

Photo: flickr user cjmartin

Ingredients

Fresh chiles (jalapenos or serranos)

Carrots

Cauliflower (I use one head only)

Onions

Garlic (1/4 of a head per jar)

1 Bay entire leaves (1 to 2)

2 cloves

2 pepper corns (2 to 3)

1 little piece of cinnamon

teaspoon mustard seed

salt

white vinegar (I use like 1/2 gallon for eight 1 pint jars).

Preparation

Slice the carrots in rounds. Brake the cauliflower in small pieces and cut the onions in chunks. I cut garlics in such a way that the teeth? are in halfs. I like to use entire chiles but I always punch them with a toothpick, so the flavor comes out. If you want you can slice them in longitudinal cuts, which is the traditional way. I heat a little bit of oil (like 3 or 4 tablespoons) and place all the vegetables at the same time and mix everything until all the vegetables are covered with a thin layer of oil. Then I fill the jars with the vegetables (the jars by then already have the spices and salt).

"piquin chiles" and I have been using them for the last year, by adding here the vegetables, this works wonderful, because we have had very flavorful pickles for long time. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

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NOTES : I know about those lovely jalapenos and carrots!!! This is the recipe that _I_ use but instead of doing the oil thing like they mention I just skip that part and it comes out just great.

In response to the question how to preserve Jalapenos (or any other chile). The following is the recipe I obtained originally from my cooking class in high school in Mexico, but I made some modifications because the chiles were always too cooked. As to how to dry chiles, that is a question that can be answered only by experimenting, since as a Mexican I am use to find any kind of chiles any time in the market very cheap, and I would think most of the Mexicans wouldn't know how to dry them.... Any way, I have a very good recipe for chipotles (dry jalapenos) once I am able to understand how this system works... Please note that I don't give the exact amounts because they would vary depending on what you want to get, but keep in mind that the important thing always would be the spices.