Picking and Saving Peppers

We grow peppers each year: ghost pepper, habanero, chilies, jalapeños. Too many to use immediately, so after each harvest, I freeze them. 

Tip! Wear gloves. Prep the peppers before you freeze them. Take off stems, wash, cut off tops. Cut in half to make sure there are no bugs or rotten seeds. Freeze in freezer Ziplock bags, making sure to squeeze out all the air. Or, vacuum seal, if you have the machine. 

When ready to use, don't thaw your peppers! They get gooey. We pickle ours and throw them frozen, right into our pickle mixture. I ruined an entire batch of peppers by thawing....if you thawed your peppers, it's ok, just throw them into the oven at 170-200 degrees Fahrenheit, until crispy (depending on your oven, could be 4-9 hours). You can make pepper dust. Beware: open your windows... Dehydrating peppers in the oven can choke you out of your kitchen if your oven door doesn't close tightly. I learned this the hard way....Hope you have a great 2017 harvest.