ᐉ Hot peppers can be frozen

Is it possible to freeze hot peppers for the winter: how to preserve the hot vegetable correctly

Vegetables grown in your garden always taste better than store-bought ones.
But not all crops remain fresh until winter. Most often, the harvest is stored in the basement, but the freezing method is becoming increasingly popular. The more tender and juicy the fruit, the more difficult it is to preserve them. These include peppers, including bitter ones. Many housewives have questions: is it possible to freeze hot peppers for the winter, how healthy is it, and will it lose its taste? Read more about how to make such a blank in our article.

How to freeze chopped hot peppers with herbs

You can freeze fresh hot peppers for the winter by mixing them with various herbs: celery, dill, green onions, parsley, cilantro leaves.

Greens should be washed and dried to remove excess moisture. Fresh peppers should also be peeled, dried and cut into small rings. Chopped vegetables must be thoroughly mixed, put into bags and frozen.

Frozen peppers, unlike pickled ones, do not spoil and do not change color.

Is it possible to freeze hot peppers?

Many housewives prefer freezers to shelves with winter preparations. It is much faster to pack vegetables for storage without heat treatment or drying, while maintaining their beneficial properties. The advantages of freezing also include ease of preparation - just wash the fruit well and cut it into portions (you don’t even have to cut it). There is no need to stand at the stove for hours and sterilize dishes.

But not all garden crops can be stored in the freezer . Are red hot peppers frozen? Experience has shown that yes.

The advantages of this method:

preservation of nutrients and vitamins;
taste protection;
unchanged appearance;
Storage duration is one year.

The peppers are frozen whole or chopped and packaged in portions in bags . Whole peppers separate easily from each other.

What is the loss of beneficial properties

Some people prefer to dry whole peppers by hanging them by the stalk in the kitchen or stringing them on a string. Drying, drying, and canning peppers changes their flavor. Beta-carotene and B vitamins are destroyed when exposed to room temperature and sunlight. Oxygen promotes the loss of fat-soluble vitamins A and E. Evaporation of moisture spoils the appearance of the fetus.

The freezer preserves beneficial vitamins, minerals and nutrients . Also, such storage does not change the shape and color of the fruit.

What happens to taste?

Fruits that have reached biological maturity are selected for freezing . These pods are the sharpest. Their taste and pungency do not change at sub-zero temperatures.

Drying hot peppers

The easiest way to store spicy vegetables for the winter is drying. How to dry hot peppers? This procedure can be done in different ways:

in limbo;
spread out horizontally;
in the oven;
in an electric dryer.

The methods discussed below will tell housewives how to dry chili peppers correctly.

In limbo

It is worth taking a closer look at how to properly dry hot peppers in a suspended state. This method is familiar to the grandmothers and great-grandmothers of modern housewives.

Using a needle, string the vegetables by the tail onto a strong thread. You will get a kind of garland of pods.
Hang it in a darkened room and wait until the pods are completely dry. If the peppers break when pressed, this indicates their readiness.

You can hang vegetables, which are previously secured with a needle and thread in groups of three, on a thick fishing line or rope.

Place the finished pepper in closed glass jars. Or leave it in bundles that will decorate the interior of the kitchen.

Horizontal drying

If space allows, you can dry chili peppers for the winter by laying them out on paper, turning them over periodically to dry evenly.

In the oven

To dry peppers in the oven, place baking paper on a baking sheet and arrange the vegetables whole or chopped.

Dry the vegetables in the oven at a temperature of no more than 50 °C. Keep the door slightly open.
Turn the peppers over from time to time to prevent them from overcooking.
Dry for about 2 hours. After 24 hours, repeat the process.

Do the same with the crushed pods.

In an electric dryer

Answering the question of how to dry hot peppers, you can suggest doing it in an electric dryer. True, this procedure is longer. We recommend that you read the instructions to avoid trouble.

Dried hot pepper is used in wigs, curries, khmeli-suneli and other seasonings.

Dried pods are used in winter to prepare sauces, stews, borscht and add spiciness and flavor to dishes. To do this, some of them are ground in a coffee grinder or blender.

Tip of the day
Grind the dried semi-finished product not all at once, but as needed, so that the resulting spice does not lose its properties and does not fizzle out.

How to properly freeze hot peppers

The pods are frozen both in small chambers and in special chests . Their shelf life largely depends on how correctly the fruits were prepared.

In any form

If the freezer capacity allows, bitter peppers are stored whole, straight with the stalk . If there is not enough space, the pods are cut into strips or rings and placed in small bags. It is easy to break off the desired portion from such a frozen piece. Freezing or discarding the grains - the hottest part of the pepper - is at the discretion of the housewife.

Rules for storing hot peppers in the freezer

The main rule is that peppers cannot be re-frozen. This will lead to loss of taste properties and nutrients in the composition.

For freezing, only use bags or containers that are approved for food.

The temperature should be about -18 degrees. If the freezer supports different modes, for example, blast freezing, you can turn it on (less than 18 degrees), then return it to normal operating condition.

Advice! If you freeze hot peppers whole, including the stem, you will need less time for prep work. You can also remove the seeds and nest the fruits inside each other, or cut them.

Storage conditions and periods

The choice of processing and packaging of pepper depends on the depth of freezing and the temperature of the refrigerator compartment. The pods are 88% water, which turns into ice at a temperature of -5°C. Fruits stored in such conditions may lose their external qualities and become soft when defrosted.

For short-term storage, set the temperature from 0 to +2°C . This will preserve the appearance of the pods. Pepper stays fresh for 40 days.

For long-term storage, the pods are kept in the freezer at a temperature of -12...-18°C . Under these conditions, the pepper will remain fresh for 6 to 12 months.

Important! When defrosting and re-freezing, the appearance of the fruit deteriorates and the shelf life is reduced.

Using frozen hot peppers

Frozen chili peppers are used in many dishes . It goes well with almost all foods and gives them a spicy kick. Recently, this product has found application even in cosmetology.

In terms of health benefits, hot peppers are on a par with apples, carrots, blueberries and green tea. The pods contain an alkaloid that helps digest food faster.

But when consuming chili, moderation is important. Although there are no uniform standards for the use of this product, a love of spicy food can cause gastrointestinal diseases. This pepper is contraindicated for people suffering from ulcers, gastritis and high stomach acidity.

Peculiarity. It is not necessary to defrost the halves of the pod; they cut well in their solid form.

Tips and tricks

Experienced housewives know several tricks , thanks to which you can adjust the taste of hot pepper:

To wash the soil off the pods completely, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes.
You can reduce the heat of pepper by dipping it in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. This technique will extend the shelf life during shallow freezing, and fat- and water-soluble vitamins will be preserved.
To reduce bitterness, the core with seeds and veins is removed. In addition, this allows you to stack the peppers more compactly.
It is better not to use a food processor to cut the fruits, as the equipment can turn the pods into a mushy mass.
If you have prepared an excess of pepper, you can get rid of the excess by preparing adjika with tomato paste or frozen tomatoes.

How to freeze hot peppers for the winter: methods and recipes

Different housewives have their own favorite ways to freeze hot peppers. With them it is preserved as fresh. From the recipes listed below, you can choose the one that suits you best.

In a food container

In vegetable oil

Flash Freeze

Peel the prepared pods from seeds and stalks and cut as you wish - into strips or rings of the desired thickness.
Place the vegetable cut into strips on a flat dish that fits in the freezer, so that the strips do not touch each other too much.
After 3-4 hours, the pieces will freeze as they should and they can be put into the container in which they will be stored (bags, food containers).

In a food container

Place clean peppers or their peeled halves, dried from moisture, into food containers. The pods or parts thereof should not fit together too tightly. Loosely frozen fruits will not stick to each other. They will be easy to remove from the container.
Close the container with a lid. In this case, the lid should not put pressure on the fruit.
Place in the freezer and turn on shock mode for an hour. Then return the old one.

Small chili pods can be placed not in a container, but in a plastic glass and covered with cling film.

In vegetable oil

Place clean, dried fruits tightly in a half-liter jar and fill them with oil. The oil will help preserve them.
Place in a chamber with a temperature of 0°C.

The oil can be used in salads, to which it will add spice.

With greens

Wash the greens and dry them on a towel, and then finely chop them.
Peel the pods and chop into small pieces.
Mix everything and put it into bags, and then place it in the freezer.

How to freeze twisted hot peppers for the winter

Fresh hot peppers twisted with garlic are a traditional seasoning in Korean cuisine.

To prepare you will need:

300 grams of chili;
150 grams of garlic;
salt to taste.

Sequencing:

Wash the ingredients thoroughly, clean and remove excess water.
Grind in a meat grinder or using a blender.
Add salt.
Close the mixture in a jar and store in the refrigerator with the addition of a small amount of vegetable oil, or transfer to a food container and freeze.

The seasoning of chili and garlic is very hot, you should try it and add it to dishes carefully.

In order to reduce the spiciness of the dish, you can replace half or a third of the chili in the recipe with bell pepper. In the cuisine of the peoples of the Caucasus, recipes for twisted peppers with garlic and the addition of tomatoes, eggplant, khmeli-suneli, cilantro and other ingredients are popular.

Fresh twisted pods can be preserved. To do this, you will need to chop 1 kilogram of vegetables, add half a glass of 5% vinegar, and salt. If desired, you can add onions or garlic. Place the mixture in sterilized jars, seal tightly and store in a dark, dry place.

Methods for freezing hot peppers

There are many ways to freeze hot peppers. The choice of one option or another depends, first of all, on the shelf life of the seasoning:

At temperatures from 0 to +2°C, hot peppers can be stored for 5-6 weeks ;
Deep freezing at a temperature range from -12 to -18 °C will allow you to store hot peppers from 6 months to 1 year .

Let's look at the most common options for freezing hot peppers:

Instantaneous. Wash and cut into strips hot peppers should be placed on a tray and placed in the freezer. After two days, take out the frozen seasoning, package it in bags, from which remove as much air as possible;
In a food container. The chopped pepper pods are placed in a container, covered with a lid and immediately placed in the freezer. Small hot pepper fruits can be frozen whole in a container;
In vegetable oil. Place the prepared pepper pods in a glass jar and fill them with sunflower oil. The jar of seasoning should be stored at 0°C. This option for preparing hot fruits prevents the penetration of oxygen into the product;

In oil:

With greens. Cut the pepper into strips, mix with parsley, celery or dill and place in a tight bag. Store hot peppers and herbs in the freezer.

Cold storage

Hot peppers in pods can be stored in the refrigerator, but not for long. It is placed in bags and laid out on the middle shelf. So it can lie for 2 weeks.

Freezing

Storing hot peppers by freezing is another option for using a hot vegetable in the winter.

You can freeze both whole and chopped pods:

In general, it is better to freeze small specimens so that they can be added to dishes in winter without cutting. To do this, place the vegetables on a tray and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, place in bags.
Also place the crushed mass on a tray for freezing, then pour into bags or containers in small portions and store in the freezer.

In this form, the vegetable can be stored for a year.

If the whole pepper is stored fresh, its bitterness gradually increases.

Tip of the day
A cut pod can burn your skin, so use medical gloves when handling it. While working, do not touch your face and especially take care of your eyes.