There were 1 million jalapeños growing in my garden and I did not know what to do with them. Well, it was almost 50 pounds of fresh jalapeños, but who’s counting? This past spring someone told me jalapeño peppers were easy to grow, and I didn’t believe them. Guess what? They are very easy to grow! I grew 6 different kinds of Jalapeño peppers from the Sandia Seed. They ranged in heat from edible Jalapeño Mucho Nacho, Jalapeño M, NuMex Jalmundo, to fire hot Early Jalapeño, and ranged in color from green, yellow Numex Lemon Spice, orange Numex Orange Spice and red. It was so wonderful until the harvested peppers started piling up! So, this is what I did:
I gave half of the jalapeños away to food banks, food pantries, restaurants, friends, coworkers, enemies and strangers. I even took a couple bags to the farmer’s market and just gave them to a vendor. 25 pounds gone!
Then I made jelly. Everyone loves jelly, especially with cream cheese! Whoops, now you know what you are getting for Christmas! 6 pounds jellied!
Jalapeño Strawberry Jam, Raspberry-Jalapeño-Jam, Sweet-Spicy-Jalapeño-Peach-Jam, Christmas-Jalapeño-Jelly, Prickly Pear Pepper Jelly, and Jalapeño Jelly with Bell peppers
Then I pickled the peppers! Pickled jalapeños are delicious with everything! Taquitos, quesadillas, pizza, eggs, sandwiches, and fried pickled jalapeños served with cream cheese or vanilla ice cream are awesome. 7 pounds pickled!
Cowboy Candy, Pickled Jalapeños and Carrots, Brine Pickled Fermented Jalapeños, Jalapeño Pickle Mix, Quick Pickled Jalapeño Rings, Bread and Butter Pickles with Jalapeños added, Hot Italian Giardiniera
Then I took the red jalapeños and made them into Chipotle peppers. I dried them using a smoker and I plan to grind the chipotles into powder later and make sauce. 5 pounds dried!
Make your own Chipotle Peppers from Jalapeños, Chipotle Adobo Sauce
That equals 43 pounds of the 50 pounds. We’ve been eating fresh jalapeños, sauteed jalapeños and broiled jalapeños in every meal for three months. 4 pounds eaten! Ok, 3 pounds left, so I’m just going freeze them whole. Goodnight! ~ Jalapeño Aficionado
