The other day, a coworker brought a bunch of jalapeño peppers that her mother gave to her. She kept as many as she wanted and offered the rest to us and of course, I'm not one to pass up a free offer!
I forgot to count, but I scored about three dozen. Mostly medium to large size. Side note, peppers are a vegetable that you can freeze raw without precooking. I washed them and then dried them off well, you don't want any extra moisture during freezing.
I came up with three way plan:
The smaller ones I sliced into rings. Because the rings still have the seeds and ribs, they will be a bit hotter.
I spread them onto a parchment lined baking sheet and popped them in the freezer.
These will be perfect for nachos or burgers, anywhere that we need some sliced jalapeño rings.
The larger ones I sliced lengthwise and then, using a spoon, I scraped out the ribs and most of the seeds. This removes the hottest parts making these a little bit milder.
Once they were all cleaned out (a few seeds is fine) I spread them onto another parchment lined baking sheet and put them in the freezer.
These will be used to put into a pot of beans or soup or better yet, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped with bacon and roasted in the oven! So good.
The rest of them I cut up, scraped and then diced into small pieces. Again, a few seeds is fine.
One more sheet pan with parchment and a trip to the freezer for future use.
Diced jalapeños are great added in all sorts of dishes, we love them in scrambled eggs, a meat sauce, casseroles, etc.
And here they all are, ready for freezing:
The slices in this glass container, easy to take out however many we need...
The halves are in this ziplock bag so they can be flat for storing and we can take out what we need...
And then the diced in another container that fits in the freezer door, easy to spoon out what we need.
Freezing them this way lets you get them out as you need them without freezing into a solid mass.
Wow, that was a nice and generous co-worker! You made excellent use of that bounty! You really thought it out. It will be so convenient when you want to use them.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to preserve jalapenos is to pickle them. I have used the same solution and method that I use for Bread & Butter pickles. They are really good! My friend makes jalapeno jelly.
Tip: A grapefruit spoon, with its serrated edges, is perfect for scooping out the ribs and seeds.
She is very generous like that, we appreciate it, ha. I thought about pickling some too but 2nd Man said he wanted different kinds to cool with, ha.
DeleteWow, great idea on the grapefruit spoon, I could pick up one or two at a thrift store and use them for that purpose. Thanks!!
Those are great ways to make the most of your bounty.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteNice of your co-worker bringing in her extra bounty. I'm sure you will be making good use of them peppers as there are so many ways they can be used.
ReplyDeleteWe Don't use jalapeño peppers here, but I have done some canning in making candied peppers and gave as gifts.
I bet diced up would be great mixing cheddar cheese/ jalapeño pepper bread or making into9 corn bread muffins. Make you up some cream cheese pepper poppers wrapped in bacon.
Place on top of homemade pizza.
make hot sauce, put in homemade salsa.
You can even dehydrate them and refresh them up again when ready to use.
Enjoy your day
Oh we're already used them ha. Ooo, cornbread muffins sounds great to use them! And definitely pizza. And dang it, we do have a dehydrator!! I didn't even think about that.
DeleteIf you cut the peppers into quarters the long way, it’s easy to run your knife down the middle to take out the seeds and membrane
ReplyDeleteGreat tip, thank you for this!!
Delete