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Mark Anderson · 08-07-2009, 01:35 AM posted to rec.gardens

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:24:31 -0700, wrote:

Does anyone know how to can peppers? We did some last year and of course
can't find the book. Do you blanch them or do you have to cook them
through? Thanks for any ideas.

A few years I read up on this and concluded that canning peppers wasn't
for me. You either need to use vinegar to up the acidity or employ a
pressure cooker and be damned sure you know what you're doing or you'll
end up with botulism if you screw up and eat the rotten peppers. Botulism
doesn't just give you diarrhea for a day and that's that, botulism can
literally kill you.

I grow around 80 habenero plants per season and chose to buy a dehydrator
and dry the harvest out and crush them. Just slice them in half, gut the
middle, and place in dehydrator. Wait 12 hours and repeat. It worked out
well and I'm still eating dried peppers from two years ago. After crushed
you can put them in a salt shaker or a pepper grinder or whatever.