A Simple Solution for Jalapeno Lung

 

I was canning hot pepper marmalade and pickling some jalapenos a friend deposited in our car, sort of like zucchini this time of year.  I was wearing gloves, sure, but as soon as I cut into a jalapeno, I started to cough from the fumes.  They were strong.  In desperation, I grabbed a scarf and tied it over my nose and mouth, bandit-style.  It worked!  It worked great!  No need to bother my husband to dig around in his stuff to find a respirator-thingy.

And I learned something about canners in this canning session as well.  I was using half-pint jars and expected a yield of only12 jars, so I decided to try my cute 70s pot with a trivet in the bottom instead of my big enamelware canner.  I got this idea from Marisa's new book - she doesn't even own a big canner.

Well.  The ding-dang jars bobbed around and fell over in my cute pot before I could set them all in.  My big canner has a rack that holds jars firmly.  I burned my fingers trying hastily to fix everything into my cute pot; there was cussing, but the children were outside.

My husband walked through the kitchen as this was going on, and flew for the camera to take a picture of me.  Then he very nicely ran down to the basement to fetch my jar lifter which I had forgotten (hence the burned fingers).

Fortunately, everything sealed and is now safely tucked away.  Six half-pints of hot pepper marmalade to eat with bagels and cream cheese or scrambled eggs, and 7 half-pints of pickled jalapenos.