Pickled Jalapeños

For weeks, nay months, almost a year (without any exaggeration), I’ve been looking for jalapeños in Bombay. On the rare occasion that I did find them, they looked as if they were sitting in the cling film wrapped box for weeks before they reached my hands. Yesterday while shopping at a supermarket, I was thrilled to find some jalapeños. And this time they were actually fresh!

Ever since I was introduced to pickled jalapeños years ago, I’d religiously buy a bottle every few weeks and make sure that I’d never run out of them. I especially love eating them in sandwiches, so slicing the jalapeños before pickling is more convenient. If you’d like, you can pickle them whole (just like I left the red one in the jar). When leaving them whole, the outter membrane needs to be pierced for it to absorb the pickling liquid. A nifty tip from my grandma for handling chillies so that you don’t end up with burning hands: Instead of using a knife that will result in squirts of the Capsaicin, use a needle to cut through the membrane, while you hold the chilli by its calyx.

This recipe fits perfectly in an 820g jar. If you’re using anything else, I suggest you first pack it with all the jalapeños and then add water until it reaches the brim. Now strain this into a measuring jug and this will give you the exact quantity of pickling liquid you need. Throw out half of it and replace it with vinegar. I found this method on Michael Ruhlman’s blog and I think this is just genius, and you will not need a recipe for pickling ever again if you remember theRatio (pun intended). All you need to do is add spice, flavour, and seasoning to this vinegar mixture.