Equipment: A clean quart jar with a tight fitting lid - canning jars or flip top gasket jars are the usual choices. I pour the pickling liquid into a Pyrex 2-quart measuring cup first, then into the jar - the spout makes it much less messy.

See my pickling vegetables basic technique for more details.

Fitting whole peppers in a narrow mouth jar is a 3-D puzzle. Use a wide mouth jar, or smaller chiles.

The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. If you see fur or fuzz growing on top of the liquid, throw them out.

Use them anywhere you would use fresh hot peppers - in salsa, sliced into rings on a sandwich, or diced on top of chili or tacos.

A mix of peppers looks beautiful in the jar, but it's hot pepper roulette - my serrano was blistering, while the banana pepper was mild. Next time I'll stick to one or two peppers with the same heat. (If you get burned, drink milk - it washes the capsaicin away better than water or beer.)

One kind of pepper: Make pickled jalapenos, like David Lebovitz did.

Pepper rings: Slice the peppers into rings before pickling. They don't look as pretty, but they're much easier to pack into the jar and to use later.

Other herbs and spices: Michael Symon adds 1 teaspoon cumin, and uses marjoram instead of thyme.

Adapted from Michael Symon's Pickled Chillis on ruhlman.com.