How to Water Bath Bell Peppers With Lemon Juice

Preserve fresh peppers by canning them with a lemon juice marinade.

Marinated peppers instill a new dimension of flavor when added to a range of foods, including hot dog relish, sweet pepper jelly, meat marinade or pasta sauce. When making and canning peppers, add lemon juice to the marinade to incorporate an acid, which will prevent browning and add a hint of tartness. After finishing marinated bell peppers, place the jars in a boiling water bath to kill any bacteria associated with high-acid foods.

Things You'll Need

• Canning jars with lids
• Large pot
• Saucepan
• Jar tongs
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• White vinegar
• Salt
• Garlic
• Rubber gloves
• Paper towels
• Canning water bath rack
• Labels

Instructions

1. Submerge empty canning jars in a large pot of water. Submerge the canning lids in a saucepan with water. Boil the water for 10 minutes. Allow the jars to cool for a while in the water and remove the hot jars with jar tongs and place them upside down on a clean towel to dry.

2. Create the lemon juice marinade. For every 2 pounds of peppers, combine 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 cups of white vinegar, 1 tsp. of salt and 1 roughly chopped garlic clove. Heat the mixture in a saucepan until it boils.

3. Pack roasted and peeled peppers into the jars, wearing rubber gloves to avoid touching and contaminating the jars. Leave 1/2 inch of space at the tops of the jars. Pour the hot marinade over the peppers in the jar. Wipe any drips on the rim or outside of the jar with a paper towel. Place the lids on the jars.

4. Submerge a canning rack in a pot with shallow water and set the jars on the rack. The water level should come up at least 1 1/2 inches from the bottoms of the jars. Bring the water to a boil for 15 minutes. The water bath needs to come up to boiling temperatures to effectively treat acid foods like bell peppers and lemon. Leave the jars to cool in the pot of water and remove the jars with the jar tongs. Leave the jars to further cool until the lid caps become sucked in.

5. Place labels on the jars with expiration dates for 1 year in the future.

References

• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Boiling Water Bath Canning
• Simply Recipes: Marinated Roasted Red Bell Peppers