Banana Peppers Stuffed With Vienna Sausages (or Hot Dogs)

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 quart tomato juice
• 2 cups vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 (32 ounce) bottles ketchup
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 lbs vienna sausages (or hot dogs)
• 1 gallon whole banana pepper (hot or sweet)

Recipe

• 1 mix tomato juice, vinegar, sugar, ketchup and garlic.
• 2 cook 30 minutes.
• 3 cut stem end off of banana peppers and remove seeds (use rubber gloves if making hot peppers).
• 4 stuff 1 vienna sausage (or hot dog) into each pepper.
• 5 pack peppers tightly into pint or quart jars.
• 6 bring sauce to boiling.
• 7 pour over peppers.
• 8 wipe rims of jar with a clean cloth; place llids and screw on rings fingertip-tight.
• 9 set the jars on lids for 5 minutes and then set right-side up until lids pop.**.
• 10 **this is an heirloom recipe that uses the inversion method, which is no longer recommended by the usda/nchfp (national center for home food preservation) because it can affect the ability of the lid to form a good, secure seal to the jar. current guidelines recommend pressure canning items containing meat for optimum shelf-stable storage safety, but at the very least the jars should be processed in a boiling water bath and left to cool, upright and undisturbed, on a cloth-protected counter for 24 hours. check for seal and if the jar hasn't sealed, either re-process the jars within the 24 hours or refrigerate and use first.