We recommend wearing gloves when processing hot peppers. Please read about pickling and How to Process.

Small, slender peppers like Hungarian wax and jalapeños are classic choices for pickling whole, as are small, round cherry peppers. For the masochistic, Scotch bonnets and habaneros may be used here, too.

Wash well:

Cut lengthwise slits into each pepper on opposite sides and lightly flatten. Prepare a water-bath canner, gather all your canning equipment, and have ready 5 clean, hot pint jars. Add to each jar:

Fill the prepared jars with the peppers. Bring to a boil in a large saucepan:

Stir to dissolve the salt. Pour over the peppers in the jars, then wait as the brine slowly seeps into the hollow interior of the peppers. Once finished, top the jars off with more brine, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove any trapped air from the jars and adjust the liquid level once more if needed. Wipe the rims. Place lids on jars and screw on rings until fingertip-tight. Process for 15 minutes. Let cool completely and store as directed.

Longer types that do not fit in a pint jar, such as banana peppers, are best sliced. For those who wish to pickle jalapeños without any seeds or white pith, we recommend cutting them into “chips” (any slender, thick-walled pepper—such as Fresnos and serranos—may be cut in the same way).

Prepare the water bath, equipment, and jars as for version I.

For rings, wash the same amount of peppers as above and cut them crosswise into ¼- to ½-inch-thick slices. Transfer to a large bowl and add cold water to cover by several inches. Wearing gloves, agitate them to free any loose seeds, which will float. You may skim the seeds from the top with a slotted spoon or mesh strainer, or simply remove the slices from the water, leaving the seeds behind. Drain in a colander and rinse (any remaining seeds will collect in the bottom of the colander).

For chips, wash 3 pounds small, slender peppers, such as jalapeños. Cut the peppers by “squaring the circle”: Lay a pepper on its side and cut it lengthwise, just off-center, so the blade just misses the seeds. Rotate the pepper onto its cut side and slice lengthwise and off-center again. Rotate and repeat until all that is left is the seedy center and stem, and 4 oblong “chips” of pepper flesh (see the illustration). Discard the centers and brush off any remaining seeds.

To pack, add garlic and spices to the prepared jars as for version I. For rings, pack tightly into the jars, pushing down to compact them. For chips, arrange them to stand upright in the jars. Add brine, cover, and process as for version I.