15 replies to this topic

[Liz Ayers]

We are lucky enough to have a glut of chillies and I would like to preserve them.

 

I want to chop them up with their seeds and preserve them so I can add a spoonful at a time to savoury dishes like stirfries.

 

We would probably use each jar over 2 weeks and would keep it in the fridge.

 

The online recipes I've found seem to use a lot of oil and/or sugar (as in Chilli Jam).

 

Do you know of a suitable recipe that I could use?

 

Thanks in advance

 

[slkinsey]

Are you looking to store the unopened jars in the pantry or in the refrigerator?  If you want to store them in the pantry until opened, then you will have to pressure-can them.  Methods and recipes abound.

[HungryC]

How about pickling them?  Poke a hole in each one with a knitting needle or the tip of a knife, then stuff into a jar and top with white vinegar.  The vinegar will get hot, making it a useful condiment....and you can fish out the peppers, chop, and add tangy heat to your stir fries.

[Lisa Shock]

You could freeze them. You could freeze in small ice cube trays, like herbs, for small portions.

[DiggingDogFarm]

Canning, drying or freezing are all options.

 

If you choose canning and want the jars to be safe for storage at room temperature, safe canning guidelines must be followed.

 

Here's the tested recipe and procedure for peppers without added ingredients. (They must be pressure canned to be safe.)

 

http://nchfp.uga.edu...04/peppers.html

 

Here's the tested recipe and procedure for pickled peppers. (Canned in a boiling-water bath.)

 

http://nchfp.uga.edu...ot_peppers.html

 

Be careful with untested canning recipes, they may be unsafe.

 

HTH

 

~Martin

Edited by DiggingDogFarm, 27 February 2013 - 09:27 AM.

[Toliver]

My brother gives out shaker jars of his chile pepper flakes every year for the holidays.

After harvesting the chiles, he dries/dehydrates them, then grinds them in a dedicated coffee mill/spice grinder (grinds them outdoors because the fumes are like tear gas).

Before he got his dehydrator, he would leave the chiles in a small wicker basket that had enough of a loose weave that they would air dry in the basket, with an occasional turning.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

In the early 1970's I had a garden and grew cayenne peppers.  I took needle and thread and sewed them together and hung them to dry naturally.  When the peppers were dry I sealed a bunch in recycled coffee jars.  I used one of the peppers for dinner a few weeks ago.

[heidih]

I am not clear on the use of the peppers. To me there is a significant difference between fresh, preserved with other ingredients, Super easy. I prefer not to slice before freezing as I think they stay closest to "fresh" when left intact (leave stem on as well). They do not stick together at all when frozen whole. If you want the more toasty flavor of dried then the suggestions on drying above are on target. The other preservation methods will of course add additional flavors to your dishes that need to be taken into consideration.

[fvandrog]

How about pickling them?  Poke a hole in each one with a knitting needle or the tip of a knife, then stuff into a jar and top with white vinegar.  The vinegar will get hot, making it a useful condiment....and you can fish out the peppers, chop, and add tangy heat to your stir fries.

 

That's my favorite method as well; alternatively I preserve the chillies in oil -- though apparently the topic starter looks for other methods.

[Kim D]

I use Fuchsia Dunlop's method. A pound of chopped chilies, a quarter cup of salt, a glass jar with a tight lid. Put it all together, hide it in a cupboard for a couple of weeks (shake it once in a while), take it out and start using it.

[Smithy]

How about pickling them?  Poke a hole in each one with a knitting needle or the tip of a knife, then stuff into a jar and top with white vinegar.  The vinegar will get hot, making it a useful condiment....and you can fish out the peppers, chop, and add tangy heat to your stir fries.

 
That's my favorite method as well; alternatively I preserve the chillies in oil -- though apparently the topic starter looks for other methods.

Welcome to eGullet, fvandrog!

How do you preserve chilies in oil and be sure they're safe from, say, botulism? Or is that not an issue for chilies as it is for garlic?

Edited to add: Welcome also to Liz Ayers! What a great first topic!

Edited by Smithy, 28 February 2013 - 12:44 PM.

[Nancy in CO]

I guess it depends on what kinds of chiles you're preserving. If it's the poblano/mirasol/hatch green type, they can be roasted, steamed in a plastic bag and peeled, then chopped (with seeds or without) and put into zipper freezer bags. If you've bought a bushel of chiles you might want to use a food processor for the chopping part. You can almost liquify them if you choose, or freeze them whole with stems and seeds intact. I've used these frozen whole chiles for chiles rellenos with complete success.

 

Press the bags flat to squeeze out all the air and stack them in your freezer. When you want to use a little in a recipe, break off a chunk from the frozen mass and reseal the bag. They last all winter, until green chile season starts again in the late summer. I add this to soups, sauces, marinades, chicken salad or plain white rice or scrambled eggs, and it does wonders for a turkey sandwich after Thanksgiving. Once you have a stash of these chiles in your freezer you'll find yourself adding them to almost everything you cook. And then your friends and family will tell you to knock it off for a while.

 

I suspect you could do the same with any fresh chile, red or green. If you've scored a bunch of jalapeños (and you have a smoker) you could consider smoking them to make chipotles. Don't ask me how--I've never done it but I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has.

 

Is there a better aroma than the smell of roasting green chiles? I live in México now, and we buy our poblanos at the market as we need them rather than laying in a supply in the fall, but I still miss that heavenly smell of roasting chiles.

 

N.

[Nancy in CO]

See also this thread on Seed Savers Exchange forum:

 

http://forums.seedsa...hread.php?t=434

 

This is in regard to making one's own paprika. Basically it's nothing more than drying the peppers completely and then grinding them, seeds and all, in a coffee mill or spice grinder. Some people use more than one kind of dry red chile to make a more complex blend. The thread digresses into how to grow chiles and which varieties, which is understandable in a gardening forum. But the basic idea is quite simple. Plus I like the idea of putting a couple of big buttons in the jar that you shake to break up any caking of the powder.

 

N.

[Ttogull]

I have bought frozen roasted New Mexico chilies and had thence shipped. I have bought cases of NM chilies, roasted them myself over smoke, and frozen. I have gone into the local fields to pick my own red jalapeños and chocolate poblanos, roasted them, and frozen them. I have directly frozen de arbol, fatalli, red savina, chocolate habanero, etc. etc. They are all good until the next season. The texture is not quite right for a fresh salsa, but they work in a lot of roasted salsas, as well as any cooked dish I can think of. Other methods are ok, but IMHO freezing best preserves the characteristics of the pepper. It really depends on the application. My needs work better with frozen.

@Nancy. It's easy to make chipotles. A chipotle is simply a smoked pepper ( not necessarily an jalapeño). I simply throw a pepper on the smoker when I am doing other stuff. You can smoke it all the way to dry, and turn into powder if you want. Or just part way and add adobo sauce (recipes abound on the net). I don't know why, but pretty much everyone I know thinks the heat of a pepper is massively intensified by smoke. The best tasting one I have done is a smoked chocolate habanero, but I think I cried from pain/pleasure.

[fvandrog]

 

How about pickling them?  Poke a hole in each one with a knitting needle or the tip of a knife, then stuff into a jar and top with white vinegar.  The vinegar will get hot, making it a useful condiment....and you can fish out the peppers, chop, and add tangy heat to your stir fries.

 
That's my favorite method as well; alternatively I preserve the chillies in oil -- though apparently the topic starter looks for other methods.

Welcome to eGullet, fvandrog!

How do you preserve chilies in oil and be sure they're safe from, say, botulism? Or is that not an issue for chilies as it is for garlic?

Edited to add: Welcome also to Liz Ayers! What a great first topic!

 

I checked a bit around, and it seems that chilies are definitely not save from botulism. Regardless, many preservation books don't seem to worry and put the chilies straight into the oil as I did. 

 

I have also seen some recipes where the chilies are first boiled for 10 minutes in vinegar, the heat and acid together killing any botulism spores that might reside on the chilies. One recipe even recommended boiling the chilies first in vinegar and subsequently have them simmer in the oil for 20 minutes. 

 

To play it save without going overboard, I intend to boil chilies in vinegar before conserving them in oil next time. Unfortunately, I guess I won't be getting my hands on nice chilies until summer is almost over.

[nasi goreng]

You could dry them, and then use them for thai red curry,
Or process in the kitchen machine, or blender or pestle and mortar and freeze in ice cube trays. Nice handy portions whenever you need them.
Or freeze them whole,
Or, and thats my favourite, make them into a nice sambal (chili paste). Check this link for some good ideas: http://asiancook.eu/...sian/sambalans. My favourites are sambal badjak and sambal goreng :-)