Freezing Peppers

[ganny76]

Did not know where to put this. Have any of you had experience at freezing peppers? The reason I ask is because I have an endless supply of peppers at my disposal (during season) and I was wondering if I froze a bunch of them would they be worth a damb when I thaw them out. Japs, pablanos, cubanels, bell, you name it, I got it. My best friend is a farmer. Mostly tomatoes and peppers. He does the usual, watermelons, cantelope, ocra and such, but lots of tomatoes and peppers. Ofcourse he planted 180 acres of watermelons this year. Hope they have a good market. I was thinking I could freeze enough japs to do ABTs all year long without going to the store.

[Texas-Hunter]

As for just freezing them they are not worth the plastic you put them in if you want to use them for ABT's... They become soft and mushy.. If you plan on making hot sauce its good..

Not sure how they come out if they are vacuumed sealed..

[ganny76]

That is what I worried about. I guess I could vacuum some and just see. He always has two crops. I can test some from the first crop and if they hold up and I can get some more the second time around.

[Richtee]

Heavy water bearing (meaning high water percentage, NOT deuterium LOL!) veggies don't so well...vac'd or not. It's a cell structure thing. Water is one of the VERY few things that expands as it gets colder/frozen. POOF..there go the cell walls that hold the pepper together.

[Texas-Hunter]

Heavy water bearing (meaning high water percentage, NOT deuterium LOL!) veggies don't so well...vac'd or not. It's a cell structure thing. Water is one of the VERY few things that expands as it gets colder/frozen. POOF..there go the cell walls that hold the pepper together.

I will dumb it down for some of us.... It makes them soft and mushy..

[Richtee]

I will dumb it down for some of us.... It makes them soft and mushy..

Well..can I add viagra for them??

[curious aardvark]

How about if you premade the abts and froze without cooking.

The pepper would still go mushy but the filling and bacon ought to keep it in shape and it goes soft when you cook it anyway right ?

Might be worth trying a couple and seeing how it turns out :-)

[Richtee]

Hmm interesting... Or...maybe a precook even before freezing?

[curious aardvark]

Ah I thought about that - and then I thought about how long a smoker full of abts seems to last most people :-)
The idea is to preserve for the future right :-)

[JimmyJoeBob]

I grew quiet a few peppers and couldn't give em' away ( I work with weenies, girlie boys when it comes to peppers) so we tried using the dehydrator and packed them in pint jars using the food saver attachment. Now I use them for seasoning stews, soups. Freezing didn't work, became mushy and now just grow enough family and friends. We put one Jalapeno in a pot, kept in the house in front of a big window that gets lots of sun and had fresh peppers for nachos for most of the winter.

[Vlap]

I would make it into a chile paste which you can freeze and then later turn into sauces and marinades.

[Abelman]

I've tried japs, regular freezing before and they are fine for salsa, etc, but as stated before, they wouldn't work for ABT's, too mushy.

Last year, I vacuum packed a bunch of serranos and froze them. They hold up Great for what that's worth.

As stated before, the thinner the wall of the pepper, the better they will freeze.

[jbchoice1]

How about if you premade the abts and froze without cooking.

The pepper would still go mushy but the filling and bacon ought to keep it in shape and it goes soft when you cook it anyway right ?

Might be worth trying a couple and seeing how it turns out :-)

I've tried to freeze them after being made and they didn't turn out... was a waste of those peppers... should have used a cure... lol

seriously... they sucked when thawed and reheated...

[smokeguy]

I froze some ABTs that I smoked just to see what would happen. Well, it's nothing like the "real" thing because like the rest said, they got pretty mushy. One batch I reheated in the frying pan and that helped some, but still....
Of course, it IS better than nothing so if I don't have any in the smoker, out these come. Helps also if you've had a beer or three beforehand!

Fresh jalps that are frozen whole work real well on nachos, in chili, etc. IMO.

[supervman]

Heavy water bearing (meaning high water percentage, NOT deuterium LOL!) veggies don't so well...vac'd or not. It's a cell structure thing. Water is one of the VERY few things that expands as it gets colder/frozen. POOF..there go the cell walls that hold the pepper together.

Thank you ALTON BROWN! !!