Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Monday, September 17, 2012

Putting Up Peppers and Corn

I'm still digging my way out from under all those baskets of peppers I scored last week. Luckily I'm down to the last 2 or 3 peppers after making even more salsa and freezing some peppers.

It really is this easy, clean, slice, blanch, cool... bag them up!

Freezing peppers is the easiest way keep some of that lovely summer flavor alive thru the year. Just wash and trim the peppers, slice as you like, blanch in the biggest pot of boiling water you have, cool quickly...then bag them up. I really love Pick Your Own's easy peasy instructions here. The best part of putting up peppers like this is that you can do this with a lot of peppers... or just a few. These sweet bell peppers will find their way into stir fries, nachos, and pasta sauces all winter long.

Grilling is easier for me and doesn't steam up the house.
Putting up sweet corn is just as easy. We don't use much corn over the winter - mostly just a handful here and there in stews, chicken and noodles, and such like that. I like to grill the corn on the cobs, cut off the kernels, then just bag them up.

Plus...who doesn't love roasted corn?

I was not a huge believer in all this pre-cooking until I saw for myself that it makes a difference in the quality of the frozen foods. Quick cooking veggies before you freeze them kills off enzymes that ruin the quality of the produce over time - even in the freezer.

A couple dozen ears is all we need for the year.

One of the things we buy at the store is frozen veggies - specifically the "three pepper and onion blend" in bags. This year we're hoping to walk right by the frozen veggie section of our local store...and just get what we need out of our freezer. Those frozen veggies may be just 10 for $10 on sale.. but I can tell you that I paid a lot less for those pecks of peppers. And with this easy and fast way to freeze peppers at home, why wouldn't I just save all that money and enjoy doing it myself?

Looks like rain tomorrow so I'll be working on weeding and tending the fall gardens today. Happy Monday everyone!


6 comments:

becky3086 said...

I like to freeze peppers too. I tried dehydrating them but just don't think they keep any flavor that way.

freemotion said...

And it is so satisfying to open the freezer and see that there is no room because you've filled it yourself with home-processed food! Even if you buy it at the farmer's market rather than growing it yourself, the quality is so much better than in the grocery store. Those peppers look delish!

Bobby said...

Seems easy enough. Gonna have to start doing this. Probably right after I get the garden in. I think I'm gonna be late this year.

David said...

y'all got a deep freezer?

NancyDe said...

I froze a lot of my jalapenos last year and then added them to the fresh this year when I was canning salsa - wonderful invention, the freezer....

kelly said...

I find frozen peppers to be rubbery... Have you found that to be true? or perhaps you have a trick that keeps them from turning rubbery?

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