I spent 5 hours today pickling and canning vegetables. In april this year I gained an interest in gardening and combined with a fond memory for pickled vegetables my friend's dad made as a kid, I decided I wanted to grow cayenne peppers and pickle them so I would be able to eat them. I chose cayenne peppers because I always use cayenne powder mixed into my eggs when I cook scrambled eggs and I liked the taste. So in May I bought two medium sized pots for planting in (14 inches diameter at the top I think), and some potting soil and some seeds for mixed color cayenne pepper plants.
I had 5 seeds in each pot from the start to make sure at least 1 would grow, and I weeded out all but the best looking one after a month. They have grown into two very good pepper plants for my first time growing anything and I just harvested today and cut off 31 total peppers between the two plants which you can see in the image attached. I also spent part of my paycheck on the cans, lids, pot with canning rack, and spices for pickling.
I used the water bath process where I heated the jars in water for 5 minutes, boiled (I think and hope) the 1:1 brine, put stuff in the jar with brine, put the lid on, and then put it back into submerged water to heat for 10 more minutes before taking out for each jar. Since this was my first time pickling, I tried different vegetables and ingredients for flavor to have a better idea for the future. I used six of the 12 jars I bought and had one major vegetable in each. Garlic was two cloves each.
Carrots
>garlic
>sea salt
>black peppercorn
>small bits of onion
>pickling spice
Radishes
>garlic
>sea salt
>black peppercorn
>1 habanero pepper
>lemon juice
Red bell peppers
>garlic
>sea salt
>black peppercorn
>1 habanero pepper
>pickling spice
Celery
>garlic
>sea salt
>black peppercorn
>ginger root
>pickling spice
Onions
>garlic
>ginger root
>cane sugar
>1 cinnamon stick
>pickling spice
Cayenne Peppers
>garlic
>sea salt
>black peppercorn
>cane sugar
>1 cinnamon stick
Right now all of the jars are sitting on my counter and I hope they will pop the lids so I will leave them out for a few days and then put them in the refrigerator for a few months before I open them to eat.