How to keep hot peppers for the winter at home frozen, dried or canned

During the harvesting season, recipes are in high demand among housewives, according to which you can cook dishes from the harvest that grew directly in the garden. Today we'll talk about bitter pepper.

Consider how to preserve hot peppers for the winter at home and present proven recipes for preparing dishes from this vegetable.

How to choose peppers for storage

Hot peppers can be kept fresh in a cool place for up to several months.... To preserve this vegetable at home for a longer period, use the following storage methods:

• freezing;
• drying;
• canning.

Regardless of which option is chosen for preserving the beneficial properties of the product, the fruits for storage are selected in the same way. They must be ripe and free from external defects (dents, cracks, rot).

It is preferable to take a variety of vegetables for harvesting of a medium or late ripening period... Fleshy, thick-walled peppers are more suitable for freezing and canning, while thin-walled ones are more suitable for drying.

For example, the fruits of the Burning Bouquet, Dragon's Tongue, Indian Elephant, Astrakhansky 147, Chile varieties are recommended for drying, and the Chudo Podmoskovye, Ogonyok, Vizir and Double Abundance varieties are recommended for freezing and canning.

Read also:

Pickled hot peppers without sterilization

How to salt hot peppers according to the best recipes from around the world

Marinated with honey, for the winter: the most delicious recipes

Fruit preparation

Fruits selected for storage may be red or green, but always clean... To achieve this, peppers are washed in warm running water and wiped dry.

Attention! It is not recommended to keep the fruits in water for more than 3-5 minutes. Being in water, they absorb liquid, which can interfere with their further processing (for example, drying).

Dry

Dried peppers do not lose their sharpness and pungency. Dried fruits can be stored for up to several years.

On air

You can air dry hot peppers in pieces or whole... Often housewives prefer to dry peppers without disturbing the integrity of the fruit. Peppers are collected in bunches, tied with twine or threads by the stalk and suspended to dry in a dry, cool, ventilated place.

It takes about 1-2 weeks to dry... Bundles-bundles are subsequently used not only for culinary purposes, but also as an interior decoration for a kitchen or home.

Attention! When drying, the fruits should not be exposed to direct sunlight. Their intensity is difficult to control, they can "dry up" the pulp too quickly and spoil the product.

In the oven

Hot peppers dry faster in the oven than in the air. The whole process takes 2.5 to 5 hours.

To dry the peppers, preheat the oven to 40-50 ° C... A baking sheet is covered with parchment paper and clean fruits (whole or cut) are spread on top. They are turned over every 30 minutes to dry evenly.

Attention! When working with hot peppers, it is advisable to use gloves. To avoid getting pepper on the mucous membranes, do not touch them with your hands. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling fruit.

In an electric dryer

Peppers dry faster in an electric dryer than in an oven. Depending on the drying power and the thickness of the fruit walls, the product ready for storage can be obtained within 1-2 hours.

Spread the peppercorns whole or in pieces on the drying tiers, then the device is connected to the mains. The tiers are swapped every 15 minutes.Dry pods are placed in a glass jar.

One common way to store dried peppers is to grind them into powder. (twist into a meat grinder), put the ground mass in a sterile glass jar and put in a dry place (option - in the refrigerator).

Attention! The ground mixture will retain its sharpness for about a year, and after that the burning taste will begin to disappear. It is undesirable to store the mixture longer - the taste will deteriorate.

Freeze

Unlike drying, in which the pods are often processed whole, when frozen, the fruits are usually crushed... They are cut to size and shape suitable for cooking.

Some housewives remove seeds from the fruit when freezing hot peppers.

Reference. The pungency of the bitter pepper is given by the alkaloid capsaicin contained in the fruit. Most of it is in the seeds, inner walls and the skin of the fruit - these are the most burning parts.

But there are also those who prefer to preserve the sources of the burning taste and freeze the vegetable, cutting it along with the seeds.

Sliced ​​fruits are placed on a pallet in a loose layer, avoiding touching the slices... After a few hours, when the vegetable is frozen, the slices are transferred to a plastic bag or containers and stored in the freezer. Shake the bag (s) before freezing to separate the pieces from each other.

At a storage temperature of minus 18-22 ° C (optimal mode), a vegetable can be stored for up to six months without problems.

Uses frozen food when cooking soups (borscht, kharcho), stews, goulash, stewing and for making savory sauces.

It can be useful:

The benefits of cayenne pepper and how to grow it properly

What is the good variety of pepper "Ogonyok" and how to grow

We preserve

There are many ways to preserve bitter pepper... Pepper rolls can be stored for up to one to two years in a cool place. Let's dwell on the recipes most loved by gourmets.

With vinegar and honey

Bitter peppers are washed and folded tightly into a sterile liter jar... Pour boiling marinade to the top, roll it up under a metal lid, turn it upside down and cover it with a "fur coat" until it cools.

Marinade composition:

• 5 tbsp. l. honey;
• 3 tbsp. l. salt;
• 400 g vinegar (9%);
• 1 bay leaf;
• 5 black peppercorns.

With oil and vinegar

Cooking technology is standard: clean, dried fruits are tamped into a sterile glass jar. Several cloves of garlic are also added there. Everything is poured with boiling marinade and rolled under the lid.

For the marinade mix:

• 200 g of vegetable oil (refined, deodorized);
• 250 g of water;
• 200 g sugar;
• 1 tbsp (top) salt;
• 200 g vinegar (9%).

Council. Dry spices, coriander, fresh parsley or celery can be added to the recipe as additional ingredients for pickling at your discretion.

In Georgian

For cooking you will need:

• 5 kg of hot pepper;
• 300 g of garlic cloves;
• one large bunch of parsley and cilantro;
• 500 g of vegetable oil (refined, deodorized);
• 1 liter of vinegar (9%);
• 7 tbsp. l. salt;
• 6 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 8 bay leaves.

Marinade is made from oil, water, sugar, salt and vinegar... Peppers are boiled in it for 5-7 minutes, then they are taken out and the brine is allowed to drain.

The fruits are placed in jars. Garlic and herbs are scrolled in a meat grinder, the mixture is added to the marinade and brought to a boil. Jars of fruits are poured with boiling marinade and sterilized in a water bath (0.5 liter cans - 9-10 minutes, 1 liter cans - 18-20 minutes). Then the cans are rolled up under the lids. Store the snack in a cool place.

In armenian

Scald pure fruits in boiling water for about one minute, take it out with a slotted spoon and immediately dip it into cold water. As a result of a sharp temperature drop, the upper skin will begin to separate from the fruits - remove it. Then the pepper is boiled for 1-2 minutes in the marinade and put in sterile jars mixed with garlic cloves.

Next, pour in boiling brinerolled up under metal lids. Banks are turned upside down and wrapped until they cool completely. Store the workpiece in a cool place.

Marinade composition:

• 1 liter of water;
• 70 g vinegar (9%);
• 350 g of vegetable oil (refined, deodorized);
• 70 g sugar;
• 3 tbsp. l. salt.

Secrets and Tips

Experienced housewives share the secrets of cooking hot pepper blanks and give useful tips:

• to give the cooked dish a light spicy pungency, add not raw or dried chili to the dish, but canned - the pungency of the dish will be softened;
• so that when canning, the pepper is better saturated with the marinade and there are no air voids in the jar, prick each peppercorn with a toothpick or knife in several places;
• when freezing fruits, it is advisable to release all excess air from the bag. This will save precious freezer space;
• peppers can be marinated with other vegetables (eg cucumbers, tomatoes). But keep in mind that the pungency of the pepper will spread to the entire contents of the jar.

Let's sum up

Hot pepper has many fans. So that you can enjoy its taste not only in summer or autumn, when it ripens in the beds, the vegetable is harvested for long-term storage. To do this, cooks have come up with several ways - to dry, pickle, pickle or freeze the vegetable.

Try to prepare hot peppers according to our recipes. It takes a little effort, and the result will delight you and your loved ones. Enjoy your meal!