From Scratch:

Peppers: Chopped and ready

by Angel King

Guest Contributor, Owner of Blue Jacket Dairy

I have noticed that some years, the yield from green pepper plants is average and then there will be another year with a bumper crop.

One year when my neighbor had a tremendous overabundance of peppers, I asked if I could use them. Of course, the answer was yes. I knew I could freeze them and put them to great use.

My all-time favorite freezer hack is to have diced peppers on hand. Cooking with peppers during the winter means I can skip the waxy ones at the grocery store. It makes the salsa ingredient prep time go faster too.

A cookie sheet, a freezer and a pile of peppers is all it takes to have a year-round supply of a versatile summer vegetable. With the abundance of peppers all summer long, this is the easiest item to cut up and store in the freezer. And whether you have three extra ones on hand or choose to buy several dozen from the local produce farmer, the method is the same.

Unlike canning, where following tested recipes is non-negotiable, freezing offers a little more flexibility. I skip the blanching step when freezing peppers and have never been disappointed with the results.

Wash and remove the stem and seeds from inside the pepper. Then chop the peppers into small squares, the size you would typically use in recipes. Spreading them on a cookie sheet in a thin layer allows them to freeze as individual pieces and not one big block of peppers which would be nearly impossible to use.

After they have frozen for a few hours, take a spatula and quickly loosen them from the sheet. Fill quart-sized freezer bags with the chopped peppers. Return them to the freezer immediately before they start to thaw out.

Make sure to mark the date on the bag so the food can be rotated.

Here is the best part of having frozen peppers: When making a recipe calling for green pepper, just grab what you need right out of the freezer and add them to the pan or skillet. There is no need to thaw. ■