I don't know about the sweet, but we dry the hot and chop and grind to various degrees of fineness. I still have some that would be considered "crushed flakes" that we use on pizza from 3 years ago. They keep wonderfully.

I have never tried it with a sweet pepper, I probably should now that I have kids that I can't use anything hot on.

Kalindi

Thanks Kalindi - I will dry the peppers. I have used a few hot ones as ingredients when making salsa or pepper jelly.

I think the sweet one is called "Ampuis" It is ranked 2 on a scale of 0 to 5 - small lantern shaped bright red - info said it was good for roasting or stuffing. I'll have to try that.

I don't think they can be canned.

I have a sweet cherry stuffer pepper. My husband pickles them in the fridge. We don't can them because every recipe I found my husband calls "too fancy". He simply wants vinegar and water and I refuse to not follow a recipe. That and as many plants as ever have, they never ripen to can a whole batch at once.

So whenever we have ones ready I boil enough vinegar/water solution, stab through the peppers with a knife, and sink them in a leftover jar to soak and cool down. Then add them to the large jar in the fridge. Hubby likes stuffing them with cheeses like goat or feta. Supposedly prosciutto goes really well in them, but we don't ever eat it so I don't know.

You can always ferment them or freeze them. Frozen peppers are easy to do and work very well for all sorts of cooking recipes later in the winter.

Dave

PS: Kali615 what ratio of vinegar to water do you use?

Hi Dave,
It is a 50/50 mix. It never leaves the fridge. To be honest, I am not sure how "safe" it is for long term storage. They don't last long here. We only ever have the one jar, we stuff them and serve them.

If I have bell peppers or jalapeno peppers that I can't use fast enough fresh, I chop or slice and freeze them. I take out what I need and throw them still frozen into whatever dish I'm cooking.

We love stuffed bell peppers and I usually make up two or three casseroles at a time, cook and freeze. They are all ready to be popped in the oven for reheating.

Whole peppers can be frozen, too, but they take up considerably more room in the freezer. Still, sometimes I just don't have time to make the casseroles. No need to blanch. I cut the tops off, scoop out the insides, bag in a freezer ziplock and freeze.

We also love bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed jalapenos. They can also be frozen pre-cooked or uncooked, already prepared with the stuffing and bacon. But, like the bell peppers, the jalapenos can be frozen without the stuffing. I slice them in half long-ways and scoop out the seeds and membrane (I don't like them fiery). With small peppers, this is easier than cutting off the tops and scooping, but if your hot peppers are large enough, you can do it that way. I put these in freezer containers or freezer ziplocks and they are ready for stuffing whenever I want them. I don't defrost them prior to stuffing...just prepare my cheese (sometimes just cream cheese, sometimes just cheddar, sometimes a mix of the two), stuff, wrap with bacon and bake on a broiler pan. I was surprised how good they came out after being frozen. They will break in the frozen state if handled roughly, so handle them gently.

I have a big batch to do today. I had to buy them this time as our pepper plants were killed by the heat.

Preparing them ahead of time--already stuffed, wrapped, frozen, and either pre-cooked or uncooked is a great time-saver for parties.

Jill

I know this is too late for last year's harvest, but try freezing them whole. My new favorite way to eat small, thin-walled peppers is fryed whole in butter til they blister, then tossed in lemon or lime juice. Serve as appetizers and hold the stem and eat whole, sans stem. Shishito peppers are especially popular this way. Mmmm!

I roast them on the grill until black, wrap them in foil for 10-15 minutes. Slide the skins off, cut out the stems and seeds, and freeze any I am not using in the next few days. When I need some, I take them out of the freezer whack them with the meat tenderizer hammer thingy, then chop up the chunks.......works for hatch chiles too!