It is a fact that Vikings did not encounter Jalapenos, and they do not grow naturally in the Nordic realms. The weather and climate in Scandinavia do not agree with these exotic vegetables. And the Vikings never made it to Central and South America.
Viking caused havoc in the Northern part of the Americas, as well as Middle East, Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland.
Jalapenos date back 1000s of years and originate from an area called Xalapa. We know that the ancient Aztecs used jalapenos, which my dear wife is very proud of, given she can trace back her roots (DNA) to the old Inca kingdom – thanks to a DNA kit from MyHeritage.
Our old buddy Columbus is likely to have been introduced to these wonderous and flaming hot vegetables when he arrived in the Americas in 1492.
Imagine his reaction when having a peaceful dinner with the locals and suddenly biting into a Jalapeno. I’m pretty confident he would have felt violated for a split second.
Due to his fascination with jalapenos, Columbus brought back a few jalapeno plants to Europe.
The Southern European climate makes it possible to grow and share jalapenos with his European trade contacts.
Jalapenos are not as spicy as other vegetables in the pepper family.
However, in my opinion, it packs a good heat level for most ages, and it is excellent for poppers, in cream cheese, or picked.
I often buy jalapenos for the weekend, hoping to grill a few of my “famous” poppers. Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t have time, and I end up throwing slightly molded jalapenos on the compost, much to my disappointment.
Then a thought emerged in my Viking food-addicted mind – why not pickle a few jalapenos before they go bad? So I did!
A Viking’s pickled Jalapenos
Course: CondimentsCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Piece of piss (easy)5
minutes10
minutes15
minutesPickling vegetables is very easy and will give your vegetables longer shelf life. In addition, it will introduce more ways to enjoy meat, burgers, or salads.
Stuff You Need
5-6 large jalapenos
4 large cloves of garlic
1 cup of water
1 cup of white vinegar
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of pink salt
1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes
Ready 1-2-3
- Wash and slice the jalapenos, and throw out the stems
- Peel and crush the garlic cloves using a large kitchen knife
- In a medium pot, add the all the ingredients except the jalapenos and crushed pepper flakes
- Bring the mixture to a boil to allow ingredients to dissolve
- Remove the pot from the heat and turn off the stove
- Add the sliced jalapenos to the hot mixture and make sure most of the peppers are submerged
- Let it sit in the hot pickle water for 15 minutes
- Gently place half the pickled jalapenos in the mason jar
- Sprinkle in the crushed pepper flakes
- Add the remaining jalapenos slices, and carefully pour the warm pickle water until it covers all the jalapenos.
- Let the mixture sit and cool off on your kitchen counter for an hour before closing the lid.
Viking Runes
- While I never use salt for most of my cooking, baking, and food preps, it is essential for pickle and brine recipes. But, I attempt to use pink salt and not as much as generally listed in recipes.
