Sous Vide Cooking- Starting Easy with Eggs

Every day I come home from my day job I see the box starting at me. Daring me. Willing me to open it and play. I honestly have no excuse. At first it was "I'm not sure what to do with it" but that evolved into reading loads of recipes and hints and blogs online. Pinning dozens of recipes and ideas. Then it became "I need to find a friend who has used one before" which of course, was easy. I've even joined a Facebook group of sous vide enthusiasts to get ideas and suggestions and hints. Discussions had, ideas shared, and still.......the box sits there. Judging me. It's time to break out the immersion circulation and end this standoff!

Originally I had bought a nice pork loin to cook for my first recipe. Grabbed some fresh herbs to throw in the bag. Lots of garlic. However, I over estimated the size of my stockpot and discovered that I don't have a large enough vessel to cook in. Ugh, that threw a wrench in my plans, and I ended up using the pork for something else. I thought about some Rubbermaid containers I used to use for herb storage, don't laugh, I had a HUGE herb garden, but must have gotten rid of them. The pressure canner? Surely that would be deep enough.

Once I got my cooking vessel issue sorted out I narrowed down my recipe selections and decided (after sitting in the drive thru of a very very very slow Starbucks one morning) that I need to start by coming up with a copycat version of their sous vide egg bites, and that is what I did. In the course of reading all different types of recipe ideas I came across quite a few recipes for eggs and creme brulee and other soft foods that are cooked in 4 ounce canning jars rather than bags. Genius! The heat of the sous vide is much lower than a canner, so the jars would be perfectly safe, as opposed to food BAKED in canning jars- that kind of dry high heat of an oven can weaken the glass and cause jars to explode. Serious safety hazard. The immersion circulator uses temps much lower than the rapidly boiling water and pressurized heat used in home canning and we know they are food safe.

Cooking eggs in the sous vide is foolproof. Butter the inside of the jar, crack in a fresh egg, one per jar, and plain eggs can be cooked to any temp, from coddled to hard boiled. Beaten in a separate bowl, the eggs can be combined with any kind of omelet ingredient you can imagine- cheese, sauteed vegetables like peppers, onions, mushrooms, cooked and drained meats like ham, sausage or bacon, or even bits of crab or lobster. Fresh herbs. Beaten eggs. While this looks and sounds like something truly luxurious, it's actually quite healthy- you're not frying your eggs in a skillet full of butter and if you keep the add-ins on the healthy side, you get the idea.

Since we are going to be cooking with the immersion circulator today, let's unpack this bad boy and get it set up. The pressure canner pot is the perfect deep vessel for this circulator. There is a spring-loaded clamp on the side of the unit that helps stabilize it on the side of the pot. It's not a tight clamp but works perfectly fine with the curved side of this pot.

For our first batch of eggs we are going to use some familiar flavors- scallion and cheese. You're going to love the soft creamy texture of the eggs. It's almost fluffy. We're adding cottage cheese to add body and to lighten up the texture. I HIGHLY recommend using a blender or food processor to mix your egg mixture. You'll incorporate air into the egg mixture, especially using a blender, and that will keep your eggs super fluffy.

Sous Vide Eggs in Jars

4 large eggs
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
1 scallion, chopped, white and green parts
salt and pepper
butter or cooking spray

Set up the sous vide per the manual's instruction and set to 172 degrees. 

Lightly butter the inside of four 4 ounce canning jars or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a food processor or blender, combine the ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the jars, dividing equally. Fix the lids and rings on the jars and place in the bath.

Cook the eggs in the immersion circulator for one hour. Remove from the bath. 

To serve, you can eat from the jars (perfect for taking to work) or loosen the sides and carefully remove the eggs and place on a late. You can brown them under the broiler if you like a little color. I personally don't like my eggs browned so I prefer them NOT broiled.

How easy was that? This, for me, is a Sunday food prep recipe, not something I'm going to make in the morning, but the eggs reheat easily in the micro for breakfast at the office or a snack. Two eggs make a serving, so I can easily see myself setting up a couple dozen eggs, an assortment of vegetables, cheeses and meats, and making a large batch. Like canned foods, you can double stack these little jars in the bath, so long as the lids are completely covered by the hot water, by at least a couple inches they will cook properly. Now I just need to work out some combinations!

Instead of the cottage cheese, use sour cream, cream or half and half, cream cheese

Cheese- use Swiss, Gruyere, Havarti, Colby, Colby Jack, Monterrey Jack, white cheddar

Vegetables- saute until softened:  garlic, onion, celery, bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms, asparagus tips, cubed zucchini or summer squash, broccoli or broccolini, scallions, leeks, shredded cooked potato, uncooked chopped Roma tomato, fresh herbs, salsa or pico de gallo.

Meats- diced ham, cooked and crumbled sausage, cooked crumbled bacon, diced turkey or chicken, diced seafood such as crab, shrimp or lobster

FINAL NOTES ON THE TAYAMA- A lot of people I talked to before my first sous vide experience have other brands. I didn't find anyone else who has a Tayama unit. I only had reviews on Amazon to go by and some of those were not that good. However, I was really pleased at the ease of setup and programming. I did not buy a separate plastic tub for the water bath and instead used a great big stockpot and it worked out perfect. The Tayama unit fits snugly against the side of the pot and didn't slip or fall over. It's a very quiet unit. Except for the beeping when it reaches the programmed temp, it's absolutely silent. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone else looking to get started. It's an excellent unit for the price.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

City Girl's Canning Cookbook- Cowboy Candy

This is a post from City Girl Country Life, centering around the ever popular Cowboy Candy. The blog City Girl Country Life is heading into retirement so many of the recipes originally shared there will make an appearance here over the next several months. This story was originally published in February, 2014.

Finding myself with a nice amount of fresh jalapenos and a sorely lacking supply of home canned goodies these days, I decided to drag out the canner again and make up a couple of my favorite recipes. This one made the list. I hope you enjoy!


Canners everywhere have some recipes they are especially attached to. And they have recipes they love to share. Last summer a canning buddy shared a recipe with me and I LOVE it.

Canners always talk about Cowboy Candy. As a fan of hot peppers and hot pepper jellies, this recipe intrigued me and I knew I had to make it. I wish I could have gotten a mix of red and green jalapenos but I didn't this time around. I've used Cowboy Candy to add a sweet hot element to other dishes- stir fries, sauces (the syrup in delicious), as a snack with cream cheese like pepper jellies, and as an accompaniment to chili even. It's delicious on sandwiches and pizza as well. I hope you will give it a shot. It's unlike any commercially canned peppers I have ever tried.

Cowboy Candy

• 3 lb firm, fresh jalapeno peppers
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 6 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 3 tsp granulated garlic (I had to sub 2 cloves super minced fresh)
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Wearing gloves, remove stem end from peppers and slice into uniform 1/4 inch thick slices. Set aside.

In a large pot bring remaining ingredients to boil. Reduce heat, simmer five minutes, then add pepper slices and simmer 4 more minutes. Using a slotted spoon, pack peppers into hot sterile canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Bring heat back up under the pot and boil the syrup at a full rolling boil for 6 minutes.

Ladle syrup over peppers. Remove air bubbles, fix lids and rims and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, age peppers for at least two weeks.

*Note- if you want to skip the canning step, just divide the peppers and syrup among jars or freezer containers and store in the fridge. They are a pickled product so they will last a while.

Canning Cookbook- Triple Cherry Jam

This is a post from City Girl Country Life, centering around canning and a sad loss at an Iowa aquaponics farm. The blog City Girl Country Life is heading into retirement so many of the recipes originally shared there will make an appearance here over the next several months. Since I have had my love of canning reignited this week, it seemed appropriate to bring back a canning recipe that's easy and delicious- great for beginners. This story was originally published in June, 2015.

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The other night the Little Lake House, and a whole lot of others in Iowa, were rocked by storm after storm after storm. All day long, starting in the early morning, the rain and thunder and lightning just kept coming. Tornado sirens sounded in the nearby town of Dexter and like it always does, the satellite tv signal was knocked out by the storm. Even at nearly 3 a.m. the storm raged on. In the morning much of Iowa awoke to flooded roads, rivers bursting out of their banks, basements turned into indoor pools, and storm debris all over.

photo courtesy of Chris Winget

One casualty of the storm was a cherry tree at the aquaponics farm a few miles away. Checking my email this morning I was surprised to see Cherries!! in the subject line. I had no idea they even had fruit trees! The tree's misfortune was my good luck, because I scored a big bag of fresh sour cherries for a mere $3.00. While chatting with the farm owner, he hinted that this is the perfect amount of cherries for a pie. Good idea, although I already had plans for these guys.

It's getting to be canning season around here again. The pile of empty jars in the storage room is growing and the cupboards are starting to look a little bit like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards. The tomatoes and tomato jam are long gone. So is the salsa, and many of the jams. A few odd pickles remain, a few pints of salsa verde, several jars of green beans, and a decent stash of apple butter. The cherry jam I made before has been gone for months and I've been waiting patiently for cherry season so I can replenish my stash. As you can imagine, I wasn't too heartbroken to hear about the rush sale on cherries at the farm (although losing the tree means there will be a lot fewer cherries next year) because I got a great head start on pitting cherries tonight. Those have been safely stashed in the fridge, and tomorrow I'll grab some sweet juicy Bing cherries, and my very favorite, Rainier cherries, to add to the pot. They will add a new dimension of cherry deliciousness to my jam and beautiful color too.

photo courtesy of Chris Winget

Triple Cherry Jam

2 cups chopped pitted sour cherries

1 cup pitted chopped Bing cherries

1 cup pitted chopped Rainier cherries

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 box powdered pectin

5 cups sugar

Pit and chop the cherries. I like to use a food processor to chop the cherries. Just add the pitted cherries to the workbowl and pulse several times to desired size. I like to keep some larger chunks of fruit in the jam so I only pulse two or three times. Measure 4 cups fruit. Place in large heavy stockpot with the lemon juice and pectin.

Sour cherries, pitted and ready to go.

Bing cherries and Rainier cherries

Measure the sugar and set aside.

Place the stockpot over medium high heat and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar all at once. Return to boil, stirring the entire time, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim foam.

Ladle the hot jam into prepared canning jars to 1/4 inch headspace. Fix lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Let jars cool undisturbed overnight before removing the rings and checking seals.

I had enough cherries to make a double batch BUT you should never double a batch of jam or jelly. You might end up with a jam that doesn't set properly. Make two batches instead. You don't even have to wash the stockpot between batches, just add the fruit and cook the next batch. Each batch makes about 8 8-oz jelly jars.

Next up on the agenda? Popping an English muffin in the toaster, slathering that bad boy with real butter and adding a nice big spoonful of this luscious cherry jam. It's also really good served with a creamy cheese as part of a cheese plate, spooned onto a slice of cheesecake or even as part of the PB&J.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested by the NCHFP. If you are not comfortable canning untested recipes, please do not use this one. Having said that, cherry jam is a basic recipe and this one differs from tested recipes only in the fact that there is more than one type of cherry in the mixture. Acidity is not affected.

Odds and ends from the garden? Pickle them!

This is a post from City Girl Country Life, centering around fresh veggies and fridge pickles. The blog City Girl Country Life is heading into retirement so many of the recipes originally shared there will make an appearance here over the next several months. This story was originally published in May, 2015.

This recipe is a great way to use up the last garden stragglers too- you can use any vegetable you like in this recipe. Some you may want to blanch, others can go straight into the brine. 

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Ohhhhhh pickles!!!

When I was first getting into home canning in a big way, pickles were among the first foods I learned to make. Spicy dills, bread and butter pickles- my favorite, pickled carrots, pickled onions, quick asparagus pickles, relishes of all kinds. Dills. So many dills. Chunks, slices, whole, spears. Blue ribbon winning pickles. 

There are two types of pickles- brined pickles and fermented pickles. Fermented pickles, like sauerkraut, get their sour flavor from being fermented in a crock in a salty water mixture. I prefer to make brined pickles- pickles that get their sour flavor from a vinegar brine. It's quicker and since I have fur kids, I don't want to have crocks of fermenting foods sitting around. I prefer my pickles with no fur.

Adding spices to the brine changes the flavor of the pickles. Dill, of course, gives a tremendously green and fresh flavor to pickles, and garlic, mustard seed, black peppercorns and even hot peppers bring varying levels of heat and spiciness to the brine. I got the bright idea to add ghost peppers to jars of pickles one time- wow!! Talk about spicy!! 

Pickling is also a great way to preserve those beautiful summer veggies and a great addition to your relish tray for parties and holidays. I will pickle pretty much everything. It's easy to whip up a quick brine, add some herbs and aromatics and pour over a colorful mix of veggies. You don't even have to "can" the pickles- fridge pickles, also known as quick pickles, go right in the fridge and last for weeks. 

If you have a crinkle cutter you can make gorgeous slices of
bright carrots. You can also purchase crinkle cut "chips"

What kind of veggies should you pickle? Whatever you like! That's the great thing about pickles- the brine adds the necessary acidity to make your vegetables safe for canning at home, and using a colorful combo makes the jars beautiful and interesting. 

Isn't this gorgeous? I just couldn't say no

Strolling through the produce section at the big grocery store in the city I had so many choices to make. I found gorgeous little shishito peppers back on the shelf so I had to grab a couple handfuls to use in this pickle recipe. There was a fabulous display of cauliflower and broccoli set up including the most beautiful purple cauliflower. Naturally I chose one of those. I considered baby carrots but instead went with "carrot chips"- slices of large carrots cut with a wavy blade. Those are going to look great in the jars. Fresh green beans and red onion round out the veggies for this batch.

Shishito peppers are sweet with an occasional odd spicy one

I have included directions for processing the pickles in a boiling water bath canner for shelf stability if you want to go that route. I did not. These are so popular around here that they go straight into the fridge and get eaten up pretty quickly. I personally prefer fridge pickles over processed pickles- the veggies stay crisper and brighter.

Kicked Up Veggie Pickles

1 head cauliflower

1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed

1 lb baby carrots (or regular carrots, peeled and sliced)

2 ears fresh corn

2 onions
3 bell peppers or other peppers of your choice*

3 cups apple cider vinegar

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

yellow mustard seeds

garlic cloves

peppercorns

dried cayenne peppers*

*Instead of bell peppers I bought a couple handfuls of shishito peppers and used them whole. If you use a spicier pepper you can omit the cayenne pepper. I used dried Serrano chilies instead of the cayenne since I have so many.

Cut the cauliflower into good sized florets. You need about 3 cups. Cut the bell peppers into strips. I used whole shishito peppers so I just cut slits in them to allow the brine to get inside the peppers. Clean the corn with a veggie brush to remove all the silk, then cut it into one inch chunks, then cut into halves. Cut the onions into wedges. 

Fresh corn on the cob makes an interesting addition

Bring a stockpot of water to boil. Add the veggies and boil for one minute. Remove from water and into a large bowl. DO NOT use an ice bath!!

Bright veggies make beautiful jars of pickles

Meanwhile, in another pot, combine the water, vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the salt (or you can add a teaspoon of salt to each jar). 

Pack the hot vegetables into hot canning jars. Add a teaspoon of mustard seed, several peppercorns and 2-4 cloves of garlic (smash them a little to release the flavor) and a cayenne pepper (or half) to each jar. Pour the hot brine over to 1/2 inch headspace. Fix the lids and rings, place in boiling water bath canner. Process for 10 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 pints.

Make it easy on yourself- use the wide mouth pints for this pickle recipe. The brine is great for all different kinds of pickles so use your imagination. The brine acts as a preservative and the heat of processing in the boiling water bath seals the jars. Remember, you can also make the pickles and just pop them in the fridge instead of processing in the canner. I chose to make them a quick pickles this time because of the vibrant color of the cauliflower- I wanted to preserve that stunning purple as much as possible.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested by the NCHFP. If you are not comfortable canning untested recipes, please do not use this one.

It's A Pickle Party In Puyallup

I'd have to say that honestly I am pretty content living in Iowa. There is a lot of cool stuff here. Incredible pork. The world famous state fair. All the corn you could ever want. One hundred wineries and growing, plus an impressive collection of breweries. Gourmet restaurants and foodie events. Templeton Rye. Apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Yes, I would say that this is my happy place. Recently I heard about a very unique business in Washington state that spoke to my heart and my love of home canning and quick pickling. How about a cucumber farm that not only sells cucumbers grown on the premises but offers pickling parties? I am sooo there !!! Well....I wish anyway.

So what is this farm called? Where is it? What is this all about? Tamara Harden, who lives in Puyallup, Washington, shared this story with me, about Duris Cucumber Farm, a very unique business that's part farm, part store and part pickle factory in Puyallup. I visited the company's website and learned all about the history of this business and how it all started back in the mid-50s when Hazel Duris asked her husband Al to help her get a garden started. She wanted to grow cucumbers for pickles, as well as other fresh vegetables. Like so many gardeners experience, Hazel soon had cucumbers in abundance and began selling her extra produce. Little by little their garden plot grew into a farm, now operated by their children. The farm's chief crop is pickling cukes and with that, everything you need to make pickles. The farm also features a shop where you can find everything you need to make fresh quick pickles- spices, jars, cookbooks, vinegars, and of course, the cucumbers. They even have cute labels and twine for your finished pickles, as well as pre-made canned and pickled foods and other cute canning-themed items for you to purchase.

Customers make their selections from different sizes and
varieties of farm fresh pickling cucumbers.

Every Saturday the farm's shop has a pickling demonstration. They teach customers the cold-pack method, what I call quick pickles or fridge pickles- fresh cucumbers, spices, pickling brine, and no heat processing. These are not shelf-stable pickles- they go into the fridge, and believe me, the best pickles are made this way- always crisp and crunchy. Their recipe is featured on the website and interestingly, they use two sizes of cucumbers in each jar. Just looking at all the pictures made me crave pickles!

The shop features pre-packaged spice mixtures for
different types of pickles- so easy!

Let's talk about this pickle party. Tamara tells me it's a ton of fun and very versatile- you can come just by yourself or bring friends (up to 23 people per party). You just schedule a time and when you get there, they have everything you need on a tray for each party-goer. You get the jars, a paring knife, one grape leaf per jar, sliced onion, sliced red pepper, fresh dill, garlic cloves, spices, and a label for your jar. 

What an awesome setup, all ready for the Pickle Partiers

The center of the table is piled with different sizes of pickling cucumbers. The first thing you do is choose your cukes and fill your jar, then you return to your tray, remove the cucumbers from the jar and get ready to pickle. 

Shaking those pickles!

The instructor walks you through each step, how to add ingredients to your jar and in what order, and you make your jars of pickles, topping with the pickling brine. The cost of the class is per jar- $8 for quarts and $6.50 for pints, and you can make one jar or many many jars- totally up to you. This sounds like so much fun!

They even sell commercial mixes for people who want to
make pickles with a minimum of fuss and measuring.

Luckily for those of us who don't live nearby, the Duris Farm shares their pickle recipe on their website. Let's make some Duris Cold Pack Refrigerator Dills. For each quart jar you will need:

(add in order)
1 grape leaf
1 stalk fresh dill wound in a small circle
3 peeled cloves of garlic
1/8 sliced white onion
3 teaspoons pickling salt
2 teaspoons mustard seed
15 whole black peppercorns
1/2 to 1 dried red chili pepper
1/4 teaspoon alum
1/4 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
1 slice sweet red bell pepper (place against the side of the jar)
5 medium cucumbers, blossom end removed
2-3 small cucumbers, blossom end removed
1/2 cup of 5% apple cider vinegar

Fill the jar to 1/2 inch headspace with tap water. Top with a lid and ring, tighten, and shake to dissolve the powders. Store in the refrigerator. Pickles will be ready to enjoy in 3-4 3 weeks. Enhanced flavor is achieved by allowing them to cure in the fridge longer.

Pickle jars in every size and color!

How easy is that? I am a huge fan of fridge pickles- no need to drag out the big bulky canning pots and I can make every jar a little different. The pickles are always so much crisper and fresher than heat processed pickles and they retain their color better too.

Tamara is a big supporter of local producers and frequents the produce stands all over her area. She tells me the Puyallup Valley has some of the most fertile soils anywhere as well the areas surrounding eastern Washington, which is a huge agricultural area. Tamara likes keeping in touch with local growers so she gets a heads up on great deals so she can preserve fresh foods for her family at home, and is an avid home canner. She really loved sharing the Pickle Party with her granddaughters. Maybe they will be the next generation of home food preservers!

Abby and Tamara show us each step

**All the photos in this story were taken by Tamara on her recent visit to the farm.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

A Peck of Pickled Shishito Peppers

Ok, well not quite a PECK but....... hey it's shishito season! What the heck is a shishito, you ask? It's a cute little pepper, Japanese in origin, the name compares the pepper to a lion, and some people think the end of the pepper resembles a lion's head- I didn't see it, but what do I know? 

Shishito peppers are bright green, crispy and glossy

If you haven't had a shishito pepper before you simply must seek them out and try them. They are curious little things. Bright green, thin skinned, crispy and amazingly NOT hot they are a super quick pepper to cook up- Pop them under the broiler for a quick minute, just to start to blister the skins, or grill them in a hot skillet, toss with seasonings and a little olive oil and serve just like that for a quick and easy snack. Thread them on skewers and grill for barbeque fun. Be brave and try them- they really are not a hot pepper.

I found them at Trader Joe's this time but I also see them in
the regular grocery store during shishito season.

With that being said, there is always an occasional rule breaker in the basket- and in this case every once in a while you will encounter a shishito that is a bit on the hot side. How does that happen? Pepper growers think it's caused by stresses to the parent plant, or excessively hot weather during fruiting. It's fine with me because I enjoy hot peppers, and especially in a quick pickle recipe, like we're doing today. 

Shishito Quick Pickles

1/2 pound fresh shishito peppers

1 teaspoon mustard seed (I went with brown seed)

3 cloves garlic

1 dried hot red pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper)

1 teaspoon salt*

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper*

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 1/3 cups water

* Instead of the salt and pepper I used a generous teaspoon of Montreal Steak seasoning- I keep the stuff in a ceramic pot on my stovetop and use it to season everything!

Wash and sort the peppers. Cut a slit on each side of the peppers (two slits). Pack the peppers into a clean quart jar. Canning jars work great, so do repurposed commercial jars, since this is a quick pickle ad will not be sealed and shelf stable. Just make sure the jar seals tightly.

Peel the garlic cloves and cut several slits in each clove. Pack into the jar with the peppers. Add the red pepper (I used a dried Red Flame chili), salt, black pepper and mustard seed to the jar.

In a small saucepan bring the water and vinegar to a boil. Pour over the peppers in the jar to cover. Seal the lid and give the jar a gently couple of shakes to distribute the seasonings and dissolve the salt. Allow the jar to rest at room temperature for a couple hours to cool, then pop in the fridge.

Sadly.......you have to wait a good two or three weeks before eating the peppers. It's difficult, but so worth the wait.

When making quick pickles you can be as creative as you want with the ingredients. Since we don't have to worry about shelf stability we can use any herbs we want, so let your tastebuds be your guide. I like to use all different kinds of dried hot peppers in pickles and chose a Red Flame chili for this batch because I wasn't looking for something super hot, just a tiny hint of heat. Pickled shishitos remind me so much of pepperoncini, like you see used in salads and they are absolutely wonderful drained, sliced and sprinkled over a pizza- they add a kick of pepper taste and keep their fresh crunch because they're not processed in a canning bath.

Make It Yourself: Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce

A while back I conducted a little non-scientific survey among my friends, and asked "what is a food trend you would like to see disappear?" Some were really good answers, like kale chips- let's face it, kale is great and all, but munching on a dried up leaf is not my idea of a good snack. Someone else felt that the bacon craze was getting a little out of hand, and another wanted cupcakes to take a hike.

Dried chipotle peppers getting ready for a long slow simmer

The most surprising response was chipotle peppers. Of course, here at our house we love hot and spicy foods, so any kind of chili pepper is my friend. I can't imagine wanting a pepper to go away. Chipotle peppers are one of those foods that a lot of recipes ask for, but I never seem to have in the pantry. It's only natural that I'd want to make it myself.

After a few hours of cooking they are plump, soft and
spicy/smoky delicious

Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeno peppers. You can buy these at just about any larger grocery store or Hispanic foods market but if you are an experienced pitmaster you can easily smoke fresh jalapenos and dry them. I got mine at Penzey's and they are really inexpensive. 

Chioptle peppers are dried smoked jalapenos

The adobo sauce is easy- basically a spiced tomato sauce- you simmer the dried jalapenos in the sauce until they are softened and the sauce thickens and takes on that sweet smoky pepper flavor. These are easy to process in the small 4 ounce canning jars for shelf stable storage, or pop in the freezer if you don't want to process in a canner. This recipe is super simple and doesn't require a whole lot of attention if you use a slow cooker to reduce the sauce.

The rich, thick adobo sauce packs a TON of flavor

Let's heat things up in here!

Homemade Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce

1 1/2 ounces dried chipotle peppers

4 cups tomato puree

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon onion powder or 1/2 cup minced onion

2 teaspoons garlic powder or 4-6 garlic cloves, minced 
1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

dash ground cloves

Combine everything in a slow cooker and cook on high until thick, leaving the lid ajar so the sauce can evaporate and thicken. This can take 30 minutes to two hours. 

Loads of flavor getting ready to happen

Prepare a pressure canner and 4 ounce canning jars, with lids.

The peppers plump up and soften during cooking

Ladle the peppers and sauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process the jars for 35 minutes at the correct weight for your altitude, for me it's 15 lbs. Cool completely before testing the seals.

These are so handy for all kinds of recipes and are better than the store bought chipotles in metal cans. If you open a jar and don't use the entire contents, just pop the lid back on and store in the freezer until you need it again. I had more than enough of the Adobo sauce so I canned the extra in 3 half pint jars for future experiments.

The finished jars

When I was making this recipe the aroma was incredible. The mixture of those warm spices, the cloves, allspice and cinnamon, are just heavenly together and the spicy hint of chipotle just takes it to a whole other level. I can't wait to open the first jar after they have mellowed for a couple months. The amount of chipotles compared to the amount of liquid looked a little off at first, but after cooking the peppers absorbed some of the liquid and plumped up. 

I removed as much of the stem from the peppers as I could. It wasn't easy to get them off but I did the best I could. You can leave them on if you like but you will want to remove them when you use the peppers later.

BIG thanks to my good friend Elaine, owner of FireFood, for her advice, discussion and expertise in working with hot peppers and canned foods. She spent considerable time talking with me about any issues that might affect safety, pH, pressure versus water bath, and so on.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested by the NCHFP. If you are not comfortable canning untested recipes, please do not use this one.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."