Although fresh green peppers are available year 'round at our organic foods co-op, during the winter months they are quite pricey (and sometimes look like they've been separated from the plant they grew on for several months) so I tend to ignore recipes calling for green pepper as a key ingredient . . . unless I have a good supply from the garden in the freezer.
Because the ones I just harvested weren't enough to make a batch of Stuffed Green Peppers (when I gear up the production line for making stuffed peppers I need lots and lots of peppers!), I chose to cut them up and freeze them in handy-dandy pieces.
I spread the pieces out on trays and left them in the freezer over night. (No blanching required.)
This morning I shoveled them into a freezer bag where they remain fairly much separated into their individual pieces.
I can easily take out any amount I need for use in a recipe. (About 3/4 to 1 cup of pieces equals one whole green pepper.)
The peppers I cut up last night measured out at just about exactly three quarts full . . . and I made sure to mark it down on my canning/preserving sheet for 2015! I'll need more than this one bag full so hope to get more.
16 comments:
That's the way I do it. It's so nice to be able to grab out of the freezer what I need . Around here, those peppers grown organically fetch $4.99 a pound. Ridiculous, when you know they aren't paying those farmers diddly for them.
Hope you get lots and lots. I'm not so sure, though, as the heat seems to be leaving the area. Our high today was only 56. I'm not complaining, but I don't think the peppers are too happy...........
Do you knit sweaters for yours?
:D
I have to do that this week, it sounds like a perfect way to save them to where they aren't a block of frozen green ice.
Sue - I may have to knit sweaters for mine! (Actually, Sunday night we put a cold frame over them and crossed our fingers.)
Our weather has taken a turn for the cool just as yours has. All of a sudden, it feels like fall. Looks like fall. Smells like fall. I think it's fall.
Sunnybrook Farm - I think you'll be very pleased with this way of having green peppers to use all winter. Don't be like me, but keep note of how many you put up and how many you use this year. :o}
That's the way I do mine. So far I have 3 quarts and more
to do. Love the knit sweater idea!
Sue
I do the same thing. This year, out of the six plants I had, I only got 2 very small peppers. I need to hit up the farmers market to buy some to put up. So disappointed in my garden this year. Green beans and tomatoes have been doing great, but not my butternut squash, onions, and green peppers. *sigh*
peppers have been slow coming here there are a few but not enough to to put by I will have to make a trip to the wholesalers and get in a few supplies while the prices are good :-)
Mama Pea, that's what I do every year too. I also slice in strips (with red peppers too) and freeze for fajitas, and other meals. You can never have too many of those. Yum!
Sue - Have you ever kept track of how many quarts of the chopped peppers you use over a year? So far, you and I have about the same amount put by.
Heather - Isn't it strange how some crops do so well while others are a wash? You would think if your weather was favorable for your beans and tomatoes the squash and peppers would have done well, too. Sigh. Hope you can find what you need at your farmer's market.
Dawn - Yep, I'm thinking I'll have to contact the produce manager of our organic co-op to see if I can buy a case (or at least a partial case) of green peppers to stuff.
Kristina - The strips are such a good idea for Mexican or Asian dishes. Thanks!
The weather sure can turn fast on you, can't it? I am still waiting for my one, lone pepper plant to ripen the six peppers hanging on it. Last year, I got zero peppers, so picked a half bushel at a local-ish farm. I didn't think I'd use all that I froze, but I was wrong!
Susan - Did you make any of your half bushel into stuffed peppers? That would have made a whole LOT of chopped for the freezer!
I put 4 quarts in the freezer last year and I ran out. So this year I hope to keep better track. I also pickled sweet banana peppers this year, my first time
doing these. I have 15 stuffed peppers in freezer.
Sue
Thanks for the info, Sue!
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