Winter storage methods for hot peppers

Bitter peppers will always find their place in the kitchen. Naturally, the most appreciated is a vegetable grown in one's own garden.

So the pepper starts to sing and color. And now you are wondering how to properly preserve the hot pepper for the winter and in what form it can be done better.

Well, further we will analyze in detail all the main ways of storing hot peppers at home.

By the way! The site also has material on how to store sweet peppers in winter.

When to remove bitter peppers from the garden for storage

There are 2 stages of ripeness of all vegetables and fruits (including hot peppers):

• Technical... The fruits have grown to their maximum size, but have not turned into a specific color, i.e. the peppers are not yet fully ripe = green.
• Biological... The fruits have acquired a color (red), which is characteristic for the full ripening of a certain variety.

Unlike from sweet pepper, bitter needs to be collected only for the stage of biological ripeness, when the vegetable is fully ripe (= colored)... Hot peppers of red color will be stored much longer than green ones, since at this stage it will contain the maximum concentration of a pungent substance, which is also a natural preservative.

Remember! The more ripe the pepper is, the more spicy it will be (= contain more burning substance in the composition).

Accordingly, you can regulate the pungency of the pepper: if you pluck an unripe pod, it will be less pungent and, conversely, a ripe vegetable picked becomes very pungent.

Collection and preparation of hot peppers for storage

So, to collect the pepper for storage, you need to use a garden shears, cutting off the pods along with the stalks.

Note! All operations with hot peppers are best done with gloves.

It must be remembered that hot peppers properly prepared for storage for the winter must be washed from the ground. The best way is to dip the pods in a bowl of warm water, then rinse with cool water and pat dry with a towel.

By the way! To reduce the pungency, you can place the pods in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Video: how to prepare hot peppers for storage

How to keep hot peppers for the winter: ways

You can store hot peppers in different ways: dry in pods, ground, fresh in the refrigerator, frozen and pickled or canned. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Dried

As a rule, hot peppers are usually kept dried.

Collect the peppers, dry them thoroughly, and then put them in storage in a relatively cool and dark place, for example, in a kitchen cabinet, before putting the peppers in a glass jar and closing it with a nylon lid (or parchment paper, securing it with an elastic band).

How to properly dry hot peppers:

• You cannot dry in the sun, only in shade (i.e., avoiding direct sunlight), for example, under a shed, in a gazebo or in an attic. In addition, the room must be well ventilated.
• It is very convenient to dry hot peppers, fixing (tying) the pods to the stalks on a strong thread and hanging them in the kitchen (in the room) until completely dry.

Remember! Peppers are strung on a string in the area of ​​the stalk.

• Alternatively, you can also simply lay out the pods in one layer on paper.
• It will take a long time to dry naturally (2 weeks to a month) until the peppers are light and brittle.

• If you don't feel like waiting, then your choice is electric dryer, in which it will take only 8-12 hours to dry. Or you can use oven (1.5-2 hours at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, slightly closing the door).

Important! Obviously, dried peppers are not stored in humid places.

Video: how to keep hot peppers for the winter (dried)

In the hammer

If you want to keep the hot pepper for as long as possible, then it would be optimal to immediately prepare a spice from it, i.e. grind.

A few tips for preparing and storing hot pepper:

• you only need to grind well dried peppers;
• it will be most convenient to grind in a coffee grinder, after cutting the pods into small pieces;

By the way! The seeds and the inside of the pepper are its sharpest parts, so there is no point in throwing them away: it is better to grind them.

• need to store in a jarwhich is closing maximally hermetically.

Advice! You can grind rice in the grinder to remove the hot pepper.

Fresh

It's very simple: put the pods in food bags, preferably with holes (which you can make yourself) and send them to the refrigerator in the vegetable department.

You can store fresh hot peppers in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

INfrozen

In general, this is another way to keep peppers fresh in winter, more precisely, frozen.

Step-by-step instructions for freezing hot peppers:

• rinse the fruit under water and then pat dry with a paper towel;
• cut into pieces / round pieces (to make it easier to defrost later) or put whole pods in plastic bags or special containers for freezing;
• store in the freezer.

Hot peppers can be stored in the freezer for about a year, i.e. until next season. It will taste almost like fresh.

Video: freezing hot peppers for the winter

Pickled or canned

Canning and pickling bitter peppers is a great way to diversify your winter menu and prepare a delicious twist. The main plus is that there are no limits to imagination, you can experiment with adding different amounts and types of vinegar, honey, sugar, salt, spices.

We offer the following recipes for pickling hot peppers for the winter:

• 1 recipe (ingredients: hot peppers, 300 ml. 9% vinegar);
• 2 recipe (ingredients: hot pepper, add 4 tablespoons of liquid honey to 250 ml. 6% apple cider vinegar);
• 3 recipe (ingredients: hot pepper, add 4 tablespoons of liquid honey and 1 teaspoon of salt to 250 ml of 6% wine vinegar).

Step-by-step instructions for pickling hot peppers:

• Rinse and dry the peppers thoroughly.
• Remove the stalks, as well as, if desired, the core with seeds, but you can leave it (if you want "sharper").
• Cut the pepper into random pieces, but such that they fit easily into a jar.
• Place pieces or whole pods tightly in jars.
• Pour in vinegar and cover the jars with lids, but do not roll up.

If you want to additionally use honey, then it is better to first mix apple cider or wine vinegar with honey and salt, and then pour the marinade over the peppers.

• Turn the jar up and down so that the peppers are saturated with the marinade and top up.
• Store in refrigerator (until next season).

By the way! You can use hot vinegar and pickled peppers separately.

• Pickled peppers will be ready to eat in 2-3 weeks.

In general, the first 2-3 weeks it can be stored in a kitchen cabinet, and then put into the refrigerator.

In oil

If you like the idea of ​​canning in oil, here's what you need to do to keep the hot peppers that way:

• rinse the pods, remove the seeds (if desired, you can leave them to be "sharper"), cut into slices / rounds;
• fill the jar and pour oil to the top (sunflower or olive);
• put away in the kitchen cabinet.

As a rule, pepper does not lose its flavor within 2-3 months.

Video: how to save hot peppers for the winter (conservation in oil and vinegar)

Hot peppers are the perfect spice for year round use. It gives dishes a special spicy taste and amazing aroma to a huge number of dishes. The main thing is to learn how to store a vegetable for the winter and store hot peppers in conditions suitable for it. Bon Appetit!

Video: how to keep hot peppers for the winter