Pickle a Peck

When we arrived at our new home in Athens, there were numerous pepper plants already growing in the kitchen garden. They were all the long light green ones that are often referred to as “Turkish” peppers in the UK, a Capsicum annuum cultivar, also known in Italian as friggitelli. I also suspect they are of a similar variety (if not the same) as banana peppers in the US.

Needless to say, they had reached their peak and would soon be finished for the season. A bucketful of peppers were gathered, too many to eat right away. After a little research on the internet, I was pleased to find that peppers can be frozen after cutting without the necessity of blanching, which some vegetables such as green beans require. So, most were cut, de-seeded, bagged, labeled and frozen. With a handful left (although not 9 litres that make up a peck!), my thought immediately turned to those pickled peppers served as part of a Turkish meze or traditionally with kebabs – particularly with an İskender kebab.

Turkish Pickled Peppers (Sivri Biber Turşusu)
Made with a glut of long green Turkish peppers grown in the kitchen garden.

• 100ml red wine vinegar
• 400ml water
• 1 Tablespoon sea salt
• 2 garlic cloves
• handful of parsley (or celery leaf)

Clean the peppers and trim the stalk, but keep them whole. Clean the parsley. Set these aside while you prepare the jar and make the pickling solution.

Take a clean jar and lid and put into boiling water to sterilise. Put the red wine vinegar, water and salt in a saucepan. Crush the garlic with a little more salt until you get a coarse paste. Add the garlic paste to the vinegar solution. Bring it up to a biol.

Pack the peppers into the sterelised hot jars and push in the parsley, including the stalks. Pour over the boiling vinigar, seal tightly and invert the jar until it cools. Turn over and store in a cool place for at least 15 days.