Loads of hot peppers

buckytom

Grill Master
i planted 4 types of hot peppers this year in my garden, and they're all doing extremely well in the consistently hot weather.

i have hungarian hot wax, hot cherry, cayenne, and thai bird chilis. loads of them. maybe 2 dozen or more of each in my last harvest.

what the heck can i do with all of these peppers?

i was thinking of pickling some, or maybe making a mash/relish kinda thing, or maybe a hot pepper sauce. maybe some abt's with the larger hungarian hot wax, or little bacon wrapped bombs with the hot cherry.

would they freeze well for use in a future soup or tomato sauce?

does anyone have a good recipe for relish, or sauce, or pickled/stuffed hot peppers?

tia.
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
I dice & freeze both sweet and banana peppers with veddy good success -

dice 'em up, lay 'em single layer on a cookie sheet, into freezer - takes 2-3 hrs - put in zip lock freezer bags.

my peppers didn't do so well this year - I think the heat wave resulted in a lot of blossom drop just as they were really getting into setting fruit . . . the banana peppers got 'eaten' by my ufo squash - which I eventually ripped out based on its behavior.... but they are still struggling.
 

Phiddlechik

New member
you can dry them, too. I've done that, then ground them to make my own chili powder. You can blend the heat just like you want. I found that by mixing varieties, there is a great depth of flavor.
and, you don't need fancy equipment. For small hot red chilies, I've just kept them on the countertop in a bowl and they dried just fine. But, we do live in the west, much more arid than other parts of the country.
 

buckytom

Grill Master
thanks for the freezing info. i vaguely remember my mil freezing peppers that way.

what zone are you in, chowder? http://www.garden.org/zipzone/

i planted more than a month late, so my tomatoes flowered really well and early in july, but then the two weeks of 90+ degrees killed them. i'm only now taking in my first bigguns from impressively large but relatively impotent plants. loads of cherry tomatoes, though, and a few roma so far.

otherwise, i've a good number of japanese eggplants, and the green grapes were the sweetest yet because of the heat as well. english cukes were good as well, but dying off now.

and lots and lots of hot peppers.

but dadgummit, my green bell (jupiter) peppers are thin walled again. i don't know why i can't grow a big, thick green bell.

i think i'll plant late again next year, but maybe only by about 2 or 3 weeks.
 
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ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
>>zone

we're a 6 - central PA - but we're also at slight elevation which is a factor from time to time.

our tomatoes were late as well - and what more exasperating is the non-red/ripening... I have four varieties in, but I'm getting pink not red ones. if I leave them they start going bad. very perplexing and frustrating - I normally put up several gallons of (variations on stewed) tomatoes that we use for everything from a side to meatloaf to pizza (g) the volume is not going well this year.
 

High Cheese

Saucier
BT, you can freeze them whole. I have an assortment in the freezer from 2 years ago I just grab a couple when needed. The are best used cooked though.

My plants are getting ready to produce their second round of fruit.
 

Lefty

Yank
If you have a dehydrator you may want to dry some. I love pepper flakes on pizza, ragu, pasta dishes....

Home made pepper spray. :yum:

I love the relish idea.

One of the best uses for them is the mail some to me. :whistling: Just saying. :whistle:
 

Phiddlechik

New member
like I mentioned earlier, one doesn't need a dehydrator, especially with the small red chili peppers. You can lay them flat in a dry place, or string them and hang in a dry place. easy peasy. A low oven works if you live in a humid climate. Just put a rack on a cookie sheet (to let air circulate), put in the oven on the lowest setting.
 

loboloco

Active member
Drying peppers is not hard. Usually, at the end of the season, I will pull up the entire plant, still loaded with peppers and hang them in a shed. They dry well this way and stay good for up to a year.
 

loboloco

Active member
Another suggestion:
Find some narrow mouthed bottles(glass ketchup, glass syrup, etc). Sterilize the bottles and when cool and dry stuff with cayenne, tobasco, jalapeno or other hot peppers. leaving about one inch from the top.
Take white vinegar, heat and pour into the bottles until the peppers are covered.
The sauce, after sitting a month or so, is very good on greens or even blander type vegetables. Also, when the liquid level drops, just refill with hot white vinegar.
You can also eat the peppers, but I don't really care much for them. Kind of a pickled pepper taste to them.

Also, though I no longer have the recipe here. pepper jelly is real good.
 

buckytom

Grill Master
thanks jeeks, lefty, phid, and lobo.

i ended up almost filling a gallon ziplock bag with the hungarian hot wax peppers and freezing them whole.

i have another bag or so to pick tomorrow.

also tomorrow, i'm going to make a stringer of the cayenne and another of the thai bird chilis to dry out. fortunately, i picked them with their stems so i can thread the string through the tougher stem.

i still have to figure out what to do with the hot cherry peppers. i'm looking into finding a good recipe for semolina and anchovy stuffing, or i may do a prosciutto wrapped provolone stuffing for the peppers.

if i get a chance, i'll take pics. thanks again, everyone.

oh, lefty, if i make a sauce i'll send you some. and a stringer of the thai birds, ok?
 

buckytom

Grill Master
here's some pics of my most recent haul. this is the third harvest this summer, and i expect one more.

img0686ar.jpg


img0701qz.jpg


hungarian hot wax

img0691w.jpg


hot cherry

img0696m.jpg


thai bird

img0693ao.jpg


cayenne

img0699l.jpg
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Hey BT, I thought of another use for those peppas last night at dinner....eating tacos. We have this hot pepper topping, I don't recall the name, but it's minced or diced chiles I guess with a touch of vinegar, etc. It's real thick like a chunky relish, I put it on everything...even my corn flakes. lol Seriously, it's good though. I'll try to get the name tonight.
 

abi_csi

New member
Totally impressed (and a little envious) with Buckytom's haul of chilli's. What to do with chilli's though? To dry them I would string them up in the kitchen (like Italians do,I think). And of course there are the relishes that people have mentioned, the larger peppers can be stuffed with rice seasoned with stock and vegetables, the smaller ones pickled, added to curries and chillies and salads. Yum loads of great tasty dishes ahead for you!
 

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
You can pass some along to a fellow Jerseyite!! Hint Hint Bucky!! :whistling:
 
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