Re: [CH] freezing chiles
Paul Karpowicz (hondamedic@mediaone.net)
Wed, 31 Oct 2001 20:06:48 -0500
Nisa,
Sorry for delay in answering your inquiry. Please refer to the following
URL's for instructions on freezing peppers.
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~gcaselton/chile/freeze.html
http://www.aginfo.fvsu.edu/teletips/food_preservation_storage/1433.htm
http://www.recipesource.com/misc/freezer/00/rec0004.html
http://www.firegirl.com/preserving/freezing1.html
Also found this article:
Freezing:
Freezing peppers is probably the second easiest way to preserve them, and is
the best way if you want them to be as fresh as possible.
Before freezing peppers, I wash them thoroughly and steam blanch them using
a tall pot, about 1/3 full of boiling water, and a metal strainer. Put the
peppers in the strainer, set the strainer in the pot, and set the lid of the
pot on top of the strainer to hold in most of the steam. After six minutes
of steaming, dunk the peppers in a pot of ice water and stir them around
until they are thoroughly chilled. Once the peppers are well chilled, drain
them, dry them off, put them in a plastic freezer-weight bag, and freeze
them.
This sounds like a good bit of work, but it is a lot faster and easier than
canning. The reason for blanching the peppers is to keep the flavor of the
peppers from deteriorating, and my results are generally good.
The scalding and subsequent cooling also provide the added benefit of
collapsing the peppers, so that you can fit more of them in your freezer
<grin>.
Roasting and Freezing:
A Reader was kind enough to send me a detailed description of a very easy
and convenient way to roast and freeze chiles, and has allowed me to share
her method. (Thanks, Sue!)
... However, for our own personal use years ago, we roasted our chiles on a
charcoal grill after our "meat" was done and the coals were hot. We simply
placed the chile on the grill and gradually turned it, until the chile was
the color of grey/green and sometimes the peal was black and popping. When
we felt that it was done, peal loosen, then we simply wrapped them in a wet
newspaper or plastic bag for a while, which helped to loose the peal. To
freeze, we then used a long piece of plastic wrap, laying one of two chiles
and rolling it a turn or two in the paper and then laying another couple of
chiles until all the plastic had been used. Place that in a piece of foil
and freeze. When you are ready to use, simply take out of freezer, run hot
water over the chiles, and take off whatever you want by loosening your roll
of chiles with the hot water. The hot water not only thaws, but also helps
to peal the chile. You can then take off the stem, slit the side to take out
the seeds, stuff or use in a casserole. ...
Sue Clark
dorrisue@lamar.ColoState.EDU
Hope this helps,
Paul (The NorthEast ChileMan)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nisa Simila" <teapot@teapot.mv.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 30 October, 2001 9:13 PM
Subject: [CH] freezing chiles
> My sister gave me a quart-size bag of Thai chiles - can I just freeze
> them whole or do I have to chop them and freeze them in small amounts
> or what?
> Nisa