Pepperoni do not tolerate frost. If you own a plant yourself, you've probably found that cold temperatures force you to harvest all the pods at once. Although the vegetables are often still green, they ripen within a few days and from then on there is a risk of wrinkling. But just throw away the successful yield? Too bad! Luckily there are alternatives. Pepperoni freezes really well.
Hot peppers are best blanched and frozen
preparation
With an excess of hot peppers, there are two options:
- either you dry the pods
- or you freeze them
Drying is quite time consuming. On top of that, fresh peppers simply taste better and more aromatic. Freezing requires little preparation. The following work steps are required for this:
- wash fruit
- blanch
- coring
- portioning
washing up
So that you can use the peppers immediately after defrosting, you should wash the pods under warm water.
blanch
Blanching is done by placing it briefly (approx. 1 minute) in hot water. This will make it easier to remove the skin later. You also render fungi and bacteria harmless.
coring
After thawing, frozen peppers are usually used to prepare soups or pesto. The cores disturb the consistency. For this reason, it makes sense to core the pods before freezing. To do this, cut the fruit lengthwise and remove the pits with your finger. To get rid of the last seeds, rinse the inside again under running water. Be careful not to touch your eyes with your fingers. The contained capsaicin triggers pain and burning.
portioning
Frozen vegetables are often mushy after thawing and are difficult to cut. It is advisable to cut your still fresh peppers into small rings beforehand. Alternatively, you can puree the fruit and freeze it as a kind of soup. By the way, you can also freeze smoked or already fried fruits.
durability and taste
Freezing will not change the flavor of your pepperoni. The typical aroma is retained for up to a year. However, the consistency changes after thawing. Unfortunately, the fruit is no longer crunchy after storage in the freezer. Incidentally, it makes sense to wrap different types, which can hardly be distinguished from the outside, separately in aluminum foil so that they can be used appropriately later.
Clever and space-saving freezing
Plastic containers are just as suitable for freezing pepperoni as freezer bags. The latter are even more space-saving. Ice crystals may form during storage at -18°C. Although these damage the outer cell wall, they in no way reduce the taste. However, these pods should only be used for cooking. If they are heated they will be destroyed anyway. However, you should avoid freezer burn. Make sure your plastic bag contains as little air as possible. The same applies to the remaining water content in the pods. Thorough drying prevents soaking. The drier you freeze your peppers, the more al dente they remain.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself