Since my Serrano is my most prolific plant, I have about 200 in my freezer now.
Ziploc bags but the peppers still get ice on them which I imagine is not a good thing.
Made some salsa from some of them. It was good!
I also heard vacuum seal might be the way to go long term.

Stoney

Kevin, I've been putting my thai in the freezer I too some down the other day and gave them to a friend he said they were good but I don't know about long term and different peppers.
Randal

Yeah. I'm not concerned about those varieties, Stoney and Randal. With Thais, I can always dry and with Serranos, I can always use in a hot sauce, salsa, or pickle.

Of course with Poblanos, I can always dry for Ancho(which I do), but I'd like to have some FRESH types like I mentioned in the original post. Maybe even fire roasted colored bells for freezing.

Kevin

I have frozen Thai, Habs and Jalapeno without blanching first. We use them in stir frys, stew and chili over a 12-18 month period.

We cook with them while frozen rather than letting them thaw first.

From my experience, it seems thicker walled peppers freeze better without turning to mush.

Kevin,
What's your recipe for the pickling? I'd like to pickle some of mine.

Stoney

I think it all depends on what you plan to do with them. Last year I had an excess of jalapeños, so I experimented with the effects of freezing. I had already pickled a large batch of jalapeño rings, so I sliced and froze a gallon ziploc bag of them. A few weeks later I thawed, pickled, and canned them. I could not tell the difference. This spring I had a bag of frozen jalapeños that I had sliced in half and cored to make poppers. I made several with frozen and several with fresh, and could barely tell the difference.

I also roast, peel, and freeze Anaheim chilies to enjoy all winter. It's not as good as fresh roasted peppers but way better than nothing.

I freeze a lot of mine. They will get mushy when thawed, but flavor and heat remains the same. I use all the frozen ones for hot sauce, and notice no difference at all between frozen and fresh for the use.

Jay

I would chime in but seems like your question has been answered pretty good. I do freeze a lot, when I'm lazy and don't want to bother, I don't even wash them, just pick them, throw them in a ziploc bag and freeze. I have frozen a bit of everything, haven't had any problems yet, heat and flavor remain the same, to me.
Pam

I also freeze a lot. They do get mushy when frozen, but the heat and flavor remain the same. Hot sauce and cooking is still good. I dried some frozen ones once and those dried a little different and seems to be sticky until totally dried. But again, taste and heat were the same.

Thanks all!

I was hoping more people liked Anaheims, but this is a HOT pepper forum. :P

Jto79 does what I might do, so good enough. Still pretty good though, jto79?

I thought for sure Pam might, but I forgot she doesn't even reconstitute her Guajillos. You're not lazy Pam, just tired from selling 3000 plants. ;)

Stoney: click on the link.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: woohooman's escabeche recipe

One thing I was wondering...

If you freeze fully ripe peppers, will the seeds still be viable if removed when you finally get around to using them?

Anyone ever germinated seeds which were previously frozen?

Thanks.

Actually Kevin, you convinced me to do it. So, I know religiously reconstitute an any dried pepper. ;-)

haha, I wish the selling was the end of it, now I'm seed collecting, and collecting a few peppers too. ;-) Just made some candied jalapenos yesterday. My Aji Limons are starting to produce a lot, but they aren't turning yellow, they are all getting black from the sun. ;-( I didn't have that problem with Lemon Drops, at least not this time of year, usually in the fall.

Pam

This post was edited by kuvaszlvr on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 19:49

OK KEVIN, I freeze poblanos and anaheims. I can't answer the amino thing, but this is what I do. I roast them and freeze them with the skin on. That way they are more protected from freezer burn. Then when thawed the skin slip off fairly easy. I just stuff and cover with cheese.....maybe pour some salsa on, bake and chow down. They are awesome....I say do it since there is nothing like a good pepper in February----good luck---Bob

Pam: a little extra work, but worth it, eh? Who said okies are close-minded? :P See! You're just tired! You should reward yourself with a couple drinks. After that, I got a few things I need done. :)

t-bob: Finally got somebody that freezes milds. Pam does, but I'd never do it the way she does ;)

I don't know if I'll leave the skin on since I don't plan on having them in the freezer for very long. I just want the real heat of the summer to go away so I can heat up the kitchen with some of these all-day dishes I do.

Kevin

hahaha, I do that all the time Kevin.. I'm addicted to Godiva Choc. liqueur with some Chambord. absolute Heaven.

Umm, so how do I do it? haha, I do it a couple of ways. I have taken my poblanos and grilled them, skinned them, then wrapped them tightly in seran wrap then in a freezer bag. Some still got freezer burned, that's when I stopped doing it that way, but, I might just try Bob's way, that makes sense. I hate freezer burned food.

Pam

Pam: " I do freeze a lot, when I'm lazy and don't want to bother, I don't even wash them, just pick them, throw them in a ziploc bag and freeze."

I'd never do it THIS way. Not to say it's wrong if it works for you, but it just seems when I take a little time to prep my frozen veggies for the freezer they last and taste better when I use them.

Kevin

I freeze a "lot" of peppers that are fresh off the vine, cleaned and dried thoroughly. But before I throw them in the freezer I vacuum pack them. They have to be dried or the water will get sucked into the machine tray and prevent a good seal. I also remove the stems as they can poke through the bag during or after the vacuum process. I just thaw them out in the sealed bag submerged in water. Works great, no freezer burn, stays fresh... If you have a FoodSaver or similar, put it to use.

Well, I've got some that are 2 yrs old and still not freezer burned, I think the skin helps to avoid that... maybe? But I haven't noticed anything wrong with the flavor, also, when you toss them in dry like that you don't have an issue with ice building up in the bag (at least I don't).
Pam

Sounds good Pam, all I can tell you is my deep freeze in the garage builds up ice on everything. It's one of those freezers that has the cooling coils on each shelf and ice builds up on them over time requiring thawing every few years. If you have looze items in a bag of some kind unopened or not, it will build up with ice and ruin it in a month or two.
If vacuumed packed it will last for many years as long as the bag does not spring a leak of air... I make sauces so I like to freeze and thaw a lot at a time to make large batches...

Good luck to everyone...

hahaha kclost, I've got one of those too. We really gotta defrost ours, the shelves have shrunk almost in 1/2. Although mine doesn't seem to have the issue of getting ice in sealed bags. I keep threatening to get a vacuum sealer (actually for 25-30 yrs I've threatened), but I have yet to do it.
Pam