October 25, 2009

Last of the Green Peppers

Actually, they are bell peppers but I always call them green peppers no matter what color they are. I only had one plant this year, which gave me an occasional pepper for pizza or salads. This was okay because DH isn't particularly fond of peppers, though next year I plan to grow more. I picked the last big one the night before our first frost, and between it and the half a one left in the fridge, I thought it might be nice to freeze the rest.

The thing I like about freezing peppers is that they require no blanching. Just chop...

Preparing a bell pepper for freezing... and freeze. I do find them easiest to work with if I spread them out on a cookie sheet to freeze.

Chopped peppers on a cookie sheet in the freezer.Then they're easy to bag...

Ready for pizza or spaghetti sauce.... and I can just grab as many as I need for whatever. This quart bag contains a little shy of three cups. I'll have to keep track of how long it lasts me, so I'll know how much to freeze next year.

Last of the Green Peppers text & photos copyright 

6 comments:

Benita said...

A little less than three cups, eh? Would last me less than a week! :)

Scott loves any meal I cook that begins with sauteeing onions and green pepper, so I go through about 6 green peppers (including yellow, orange and red) a week.

But I didn't know how to freeze them. Thank you for that information!

bspinner said...

You freeze your peppers the same way I do and cut some in half for stuffed peppers. At our house we can never have enough of them and during the office season they are so expensive.

Renee Nefe said...

thanks for the tip on how to freeze peppers. Maybe next year I'll get enough to do something with them.

your's look very yummy. My dh doesn't care for peppers either, so 3 cups would last me forever! But I can share with my friends. Last year I had some hot peppers that I just dried. I should try some of them to see how they turned out. I like a bit of spice!

Leigh said...

Benita, *LOL,I could say the same about onions or garlic, but I don't know about freezing them the same way. For your peppers, I hope you have a big freezer. ;)

Barb, frozen stuffed peppers! What a great idea. I thought about trying to feed Dan stuffed peppers, but never got around to it. Next year ....

Oh Renee, do try those hot peppers. Dried foods work wonderfully well in soups and stews especially (because they don't need the extra step of rehydrating that way.)

Heather said...

I do mine the same way. I always feel so pleased in the wintertime when I see peppers in our store for around $5 a pound and know that I won't be buying any because I have lots stashed away in the freezer. ;-)

One thing we tried last year with our excess of hot peppers was to dry them and then grind them in the blender to make our own sort of chili pepper spice. The smell is divine and we use it in soups, dips, chilli, casseroles, etc.

Sharon said...

Great idea - thanks for sharing that. I told Ian and we'll do that next year. We didn't realize they could be frozen. It snowed last night and was 25 degrees this morning. Our garden is over and I'm sure envious of yours.