picked a peck of pickled peppers

I have searched the internet on how to pickle banana peppers and finally found something that seemed easy enough and did not require a canner.  It came from a discussion forum at http://www.discusscooking.com/.  Someone posted their recipe 'Connie's Pickled Banana Peppers'...so, thanks Connie!  I will not know if they actually turned out for 2 weeks, I'll update then!  I only did 2 pints today, but plan on doing more when I get the time.  I also want to do pickled jalapenos!  I need to do it pretty soon, my plants are FULL of peppers!  As you can tell from the above pic, I used a variety of peppers...sweet banana peppers, hot banana peppers, and a few jalapenos.  I'm excited to see how these taste, b/c I love them on sandwiches!

What you need to pickle your peckers...oops, I mean peppers -

• 1/2 cup salt (I used pickling salt, b/c I read somewhere else that regular salt would turn your peppers a dark color)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 quart white vinegar
• 1/2 t. mustard seed
• 1 t. peppercorns
• 1 t. celery seed
• 1 t. turmeric **I omitted this
• 2-3 pods of garlic (I used 2 cloves - 1 in each pint jar)
• 2 sliced jalapeno peppers*
• 2 packed cups sliced sweet banana peppers, seeded*

*I used a variety of peppers and sliced enough to fill 2 pint jars

Bring first 6 ingredients to a boil, then let simmer for 30 minutes.  Pack banana pepper rings, jalapenos and garlic into jars.  Pour hot vinegar solution into filled jars.  Allow to cool, then store in refrigerator.  Let stand 2 weeks before opening.

The spices and vinegar smelled really good!

and they look so pretty :-D

Just beware - when all the recipes advise wearing gloves...WEAR GLOVES.  I, of course, did not because I thought I was dealing mainly with sweet banana peppers and it wouldn't be a problem.  However, just a few hot peppers can cause some burnin'!!  My fingers were on fire for a while after.  Thank goodness it wasn't too bad, but I definitely know to wear them next time - especially when I pickle jalapenos!