Jalapenos - need to preserve! Help!

[dragnlaw]

What is the best way to preserve or otherwise do with Jalapenos.

I have a plant this year that is doing pretty good. Previous years I've only ever gotten 2 maybe 3 peppers. But this year I've already gotten 6 and more on the way.

I've been having intestinal issue just of late so want to take it easy on my poor gut for a while. My son doesn't care for hot, DIL likes, grands.. no.

I cut one up the other day to add to a Stuffed Eggplant, most seeds out. It was perfect, just the right tingle for my gums! LOL Sorry pepper - no red devils or death wishes for me! Poblano, Jalapeno, and Thai in Asian foods are about all I do.

I have some still in the fridge and don't know what to do to save them. I have diced and frozen before and will do now as well (they lose a bit of bite but still good) but... dry? pickle? what else... other recipes that use them that perhaps I could freeze for future meals?

 

[taxlady]

I have frozen them both in halves and whole. They lose their crunch, but they seem to keep most of their heat. But, I would also be interested in seeing the pros and cons of other ways.

 

[dragnlaw]

I was wondering if they could be stuffed, breaded, frozen. Then dropped into hot oil still frozen. Would there be too much moisture? explosions?

Maybe not whole, but sliced in half length-wise and then baked from frozen.

Anyone have a flash freezer I could borrow?

 

[GotGarlic]

I have stuffed and frozen other types of peppers and then baked them - that works fine. I haven't tried frying them, so I don't know what that would be like.

I have also frozen whole peppers to use later. I didn't notice a change in flavor, but as taxlady said, they do get soft. They're still fine for using in recipes.

You can also pickle them or make salsa with them.

https://foodinjars.com/recipe/unfancy-pickled-jalapeno-peppers/

 

[pepperhead212]

I never stuff and freeze jalapeños, or other peppers, so I can't help with that. Escabeche is what I make with jalapeños - a pickled mix of peppers, carrots, onions (I put a lot of onion in it!), some garlic, and other seasonings. In fact, that is actually one thing I'll buy some peppers for! Sometime in September, at a local farm, they have good jalapeños (some in stores are crosses, to produce huge jalapeños, with varying flavors), and I can get a lot at once, to pickle. I grow 2 jalapeño plants to freeze and dry the peppers from - what I do with most, besides what I use fresh, in the summer. They keep well frozen, to thaw and chop up to use in dishes, or use in blended dishes.

 

[taxlady]

I never stuff and freeze jalapeños, or other peppers, so I can't help with that. Escabeche is what I make with jalapeños - a pickled mix of peppers, carrots, onions (I put a lot of onion in it!), some garlic, and other seasonings. In fact, that is actually one thing I'll buy some peppers for! Sometime in September, at a local farm, they have good jalapeños (some in stores are crosses, to produce huge jalapeños, with varying flavors), and I can get a lot at once, to pickle. I grow 2 jalapeño plants to freeze and dry the peppers from - what I do with most, besides what I use fresh, in the summer. They keep well frozen, to thaw and chop up to use in dishes, or use in blended dishes.

Please tell me about drying jalapeños. What do you do to prepare them for drying. How do you use them once they are dried?

 

[taxlady]

I have stuffed and frozen other types of peppers and then baked them - that works fine. I haven't tried frying them, so I don't know what that would be like.

I have also frozen whole peppers to use later. I didn't notice a change in flavor, but as taxlady said, they do get soft. They're still fine for using in recipes.

You can also pickle them or make salsa with them.

https://foodinjars.com/recipe/unfancy-pickled-jalapeno-peppers/

I have actually defrosted jalapeños and used them to make ABTs. It worked fine.

 

[pepperhead212]

Please tell me about drying jalapeños. What do you do to prepare them for drying. How do you use them once they are dried?

Jalapeños I slice in half lengthwise; you can remove the seeds and veins, if you want less heat. Their thick flesh makes them very slow to dry, sometimes rotting before drying, which is probably what created chipotles - they dried them over a low fire, before they had electricity! I dry them at low temperature in the dehydrator, and store them whole, in jars. I grind them, and other dried green chiles, into powder, and the flavor is great. I often put it in cheese or bean dips, or trail mixes, or similar dry snacks. I also add it to mustard, to add flavor and heat. And a lot of Asian foods call for "white chili powder", which is basically this green powder, but the green peppers turn whitish, when they dry them in the sun. You can toast them briefly, in a dry pan, as done with Mexican chiles for most dishes, before grinding them up, to get even more flavor.

 

[blissful]

Dragon, I'll have a few hundred serrano peppers this next month. I'm just going to dehydrate them until they shatter dry, then put that in jars. Plus hot sauce with a tomato based, canned.


I've made the tomato based 'hot sauce' with jalapeno but it is so mild it needs to have some hotter peppers added.

 

[taxlady]

Jalapeños I slice in half lengthwise; you can remove the seeds and veins, if you want less heat. Their thick flesh makes them very slow to dry, sometimes rotting before drying, which is probably what created chipotles - they dried them over a low fire, before they had electricity! I dry them at low temperature in the dehydrator, and store them whole, in jars. I grind them, and other dried green chiles, into powder, and the flavor is great. I often put it in cheese or bean dips, or trail mixes, or similar dry snacks. I also add it to mustard, to add flavor and heat. And a lot of Asian foods call for "white chili powder", which is basically this green powder, but the green peppers turn whitish, when they dry them in the sun. You can toast them briefly, in a dry pan, as done with Mexican chiles for most dishes, before grinding them up, to get even more flavor.

Thanks for the info Dave. I figured they could rot before they dried, since the walls are so thick. I'll put them in my dehydrator. Any hints about how to know that they are dry enough to store? I'll probably leave the seeds and membranes in. They can always be removed later. BTW, some of mine are red. I might store those separately.

 

[dragnlaw]

bliss, how long did it take in the dehydrator? For my herbs (soft) I just use the micro. Sooo much faster. and a better colour.

But I did some little tomatoes and it took almost 24 hours. They said better to leave the juice and seeds as they are more flavourful. HA! last time I do that! squeeze them I will!

 

[taxlady]

bliss, how long did it take in the dehydrator? For my herbs (soft) I just use the micro. Sooo much faster. and a better colour.

But I did some little tomatoes and it took almost 24 hours. They said better to leave the juice and seeds as they are more flavourful. HA! last time I do that! squeeze them I will!

I have a friend who used to grow a lot of tomatoes. She would use one of those tomato machines that separates the the meat from the skins and seeds. She used the flesh for tomato sauce, that she canned. Then she would dehydrate the skins and seeds and grind that to make tomato powder. The powder got used for upping the tomato flavour of sauces and soups, and to add a bit of umami to other things.

 

[caseydog]

I grow my own jalapeños, and have frozen them. I freeze them first, then vacuum seal them so they don't get crushed by the vacuum sealer. When thawed, they are soft, but the flavor and heat are there. They are good for cooking, but not so much as something you slice and put on nachos, or something like that. They are too soft for that, IMO.

When I get red ones, I dry them. I cold smoke them to dry them. That's what chipotles are -- smoke dried ripe (red) jalapeños.

I have never pickled them, but I've eaten them pickled, and the flavor and heat does change, but it is not a bad change, just different.

CD

 

[Dawgluver]

A friend just asked me what to do with her veritable plethora of jalapeños. We talked freezing whole, as well as slicing fresh and putting the slices into leftover pickle brine because why not!

 

[pepperhead212]

bliss, how long did it take in the dehydrator? For my herbs (soft) I just use the micro. Sooo much faster. and a better colour.

But I did some little tomatoes and it took almost 24 hours. They said better to leave the juice and seeds as they are more flavourful. HA! last time I do that! squeeze them I will!

For these, and other peppers, I simply dry them completely - leaving them slightly leathery, you can't grind them into powders.

As for tomatoes, I leave a little flexibility, but not much. And here's something I do when I have enough in the freezer, as well as a good amount of dried - I dry the tomatoes about halfway, leaving a good amount of moisture, then put it in the Vitamix, to blend into a paste. I may need to add a tb or so of water, if it's not circulating, but that's what I'm trying for. Then, I cook it down fairly quickly in a slightly oiled wok or a sauté pan, like you would a chile paste, for a Mexican dish. This I my quick way of making
tomato paste, which I freeze in 2 oz containers.

 

[dragnlaw]

Guys, thanks loads for all the ideas! Think I'm gonna have to copy and paste this whole thread to print off all the suggestions for my jalapeno file. LOL

taxy, I bought one of those separators - ruddy expensive. Used it twice and was horribly disappointed. An awful lot of difficult work and results were no where near to what they said it could do. Perhaps I wasn't doing it right but I'm pretty good at following instructions.

In the end I gave it to my brother, hope he got some use out of it.

 

[jennyema]

Ive been freezing my peppers for many years. Works great.

 

[blissful]

bliss, how long did it take in the dehydrator? For my herbs (soft) I just use the micro. Sooo much faster. and a better colour.

But I did some little tomatoes and it took almost 24 hours. They said better to leave the juice and seeds as they are more flavourful. HA! last time I do that! squeeze them I will!

Lots of things take longer than 24 hours. And the hazard of trying to hurry it along, people up the heat to 145 deg F and then tomatoes will blacken, and you don't want that.


I don't know how long the peppers will take to dry, I check them about every 8 hours. Right now I have orange slices and lime slices in the dehydrator and they aren't done after 24 hours, so I'm checking them often.


The herbs I dry (peppermint, spearmint, oregano, lemon balm, sage, summer savory, chives, thyme, marjoram, mullein), all get dried at 100 deg F to keep their green. Chives air dried here, turn brown/tan.



Dragon, good luck the next time you get peppers. I really like having sweet pepper powder for flavoring, and the hot pepper powder will be good for me when I run out of hot sauce.

 

[taxlady]

Blissful, what do you use dehydrated orange and lime slices for? How thick do you slice them?

 

[blissful]

Tax, I cut them about 1/4th inch. I drink a lot of water and tea (black, green, herbal) and I use them to flavor my drink. They rehydrate and then I eat them, peel and all.


When they rehydrate they become chewy and pleasant, I love finishing a glass of tea with eating the slices of citrus. They are naturally sweet compared to water or tea. So far I have oranges from another batch in wide mouth jars, this group of limes, and I want to do lemons too. I usually find them in bags on sale, slice them, take out the seeds, then dehydrate. So far they've been dehydrating for 30 hours but they will go overnight yet to finish.


Nutritionally: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/citrus-peels-cancer-zest-life/
They show signs of being good for you to eat.