You can bookmark this site for most of your food preservation questions. Look under canning, then under vegetables, for the peppers in the pressure canner.

Here is a link that might be useful: National Center For Home Food Preservation.

Mush is inevitable due to the fact they have high heat exposure during the canning processing. If you can, you may be able ot reduce the time a little if the liquid is more acidic. Skins can remain on if its chopped and is a LOT of work if you roast and peel, then chop or slice. In any case heat is the destructer here..

Ksrogers,
I'm not too worried about getting mush. I want them for a green enchilada sauce that I really like. Do you know if the flavor will be degraded by the heat? I used to freeze them when I lived in NM but I'd rather can them if possible. Within a couple of months I could taste some freezer burn.
Thanks,
Rick

Rick,
the heat will probably turn them to mush, but as you said that is not a problem for the end product. However, it may be a concern for the density of the product if it turns to mush before processing time it complete. Don't know for sure- just speculating here...
Maybe try those vacume sealers- our neighbor uses them on the extra chiles from our garden to avoid the freezer burn. Just a thought.
-Laura

Actually a bit of acid )citric, vinegar, etc.) can reinforce the heat a little. Ever eaten a raw pepperoncini? These are those little thin green pickled peppers you see at salad bars. I grew many (huge amount from a single plant!!). Tasted raw, and un-pickled they were only ho hum. Once in a brine a week later, the heat was very noticable, and was not the same plain Jane pepper anymore. That may be the main reason they are not usually found as fresh produce, because people get a dissapointment once they chew a few..

The Food Saver machine is made by the same company as all the other heat sealers sold now (Seal a Meal, etc.) now, and they also own Ball company. Jarden is their main name. I like the sealers for meats and for quick prepared meals like meat pies that are made fresh and packed in the vacuum bags. Most items last a year or longer in a decent freezer, and because the plastic material is very thick with two types of plastics, its also not as 'breathable', which causes flavor loss. Zip Lock for the freezer stuff cant even come close to the same freezer protecion. If freezing the peppers, destem, and deseed. Cut into halves at least, so there are no big air pockets inside. Set the sealing machine vacuum to high, and the rest is history..

Thanks Laura and ksrogers,
I guess I'll get a new toy. I've wanted one anyway for other items. I'll plan on peeling, deseeding, and freezing them using a vacuum sealer. I should have a few hundred chilis in the next couple weeks! This is just a few plants of the 30+ and I've been using alot for salsa and chili. They seem to be doing well this year.

Those are gorgeous.

Well, I'll be the devil's advocate here. Pressure canning will work fine for your purposes. You can certainly try alternative preservation methods like the vacuum sealer to see what you prefer, but there's no problem with the pressure canning. It is safe and while the peppers will soften, not to the degree that it's a safety issue (assuming you use the NCHFP recipe or some other recognized tested source).

Carol

Leave some on the plant to ripen further, maybe to red or a purple tinge?. Picture your plants with at least 5 times the amount of peppers on each branch. Thats what a pepproncini bush looks like, and they are usually average about 2-5 inches long each. It can take a several minutes of picking each plant. I had about 60 plants 2 years ago and every 3 days was getting nearly half to full bushels each time. PC canning is fine as mentioned. I would suggest adding a bit of lime juice, or other acid, just to give them a bit more safety, and maybe a little less process time, but don't quote me.