PICKLESE OR PIKLIZ

6 Scotch bonnet peppers
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup frozen green peas
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
8 to 10 peppercorns (optional)
3 cups vinegar

Snip off the stem of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds.

Place hot peppers, cabbage, carrots, onion, green peas, cloves, salt, and peppercorns in a quart-size jar, then add the vinegar. Close jar tightly and let sit at least 24-48 hours before using.

Once you commence using it, store in the refrigerator. It lasts for months.

VARIATION:
Vegetables may be shredded instead of sliced.

"Pikliz, or pickled scotch bonnet peppers, is used to give flavor to many dishes. It is also placed on the table at mealtime so that you can sprinkle as much as you want over your food. Please refer to "How to Handle Hot Peppers" on page 45 before preparing this recipe. Every Haitian kitchen has pikliz in the cupboard or refrigerator. In many of the recipes in this book only the vinegar of this pikliz is used, whereas in others the carrots, cabbage and onions are used (simply referred to as pikliz in ingredient list). Haitians do not add the hot peppers from the pikliz to recipes; they only use fresh green Scotch bonnet peppers."

Source: A Taste of Haiti by Mirta Yurnet-Thomas and Jay H. Moskowitz