Pickled jalapeños in summer sausage

[peculiarb]

Has anyone ever used pickled jalapeños in their summer sausage? I have a buddy who gave me a jar of picked jalapeños to add to his summer sausage I am going to make for him. Is this a bad idea? I’ve always used dried jalapeños in the past. Please advise! Thanks.

[Austin]

peculiarb You can have an issue with pickled jalapenos and getting the meat to properly bind to them.
You can blanch fruits and veggies before adding them to sausage and that will help. Some people add them straight in, but blanching will help the meat bind together with the jalapenos. Not a requirement though. If the jalapenos don’t bind perfectly into the meat, when you slice the summer sausage, the jalapenos may not fully stick to the meat and just fall off the slices. It won’t hurt the sausage, but it may not be 100% perfect. I would at least dry the jalapenos thoroughly, but blanching would provide the best results.

[rvp2003]

Right on Austin. We pickle our own jalepenos and use them in our summer sausage but we thoroughly rinse them and that seems to help with binding. We do like the “pickled” flavor the jalapenos add to the sausage.

[peculiarb]

Austin Thanks for the help!

[Forkinpork]

Austin You said just what I was thinking at the end of your explanation, it sounds like a good idea to use the jalapenos, though I would dehydrate the jalapenos and chop them up.

Wondering why the blanching would provide best results?

[Austin]

Forkinpork
Blanching is beneficial because it can help prevent browning, plus it will denature and destroy enzymes, and it can reduce acidity a little bit. That will help in sausage making, but the downside is that it can affect or damage texture or flavor a bit. While it can damage the flavor or texture, it can still protect flavor if you are freezing some fruits/veggies because freezing can do even more damage to flavor/texture.
If you reduce the acidity, and denature or destroy enzymes, it will help in your meat binding. Getting rid of some of that acidity and the enzymes will help the meat hold, stick, and bind properly to the fruit/veggies.

Hopefully that helps explain a bit more. Let me know if you need anything else!