In our articles, we have already talked in detail about ways to store bell peppers, in particular about drying them at home and freezing them in the freezer. Today we will talk about red hot pepper and how to store it. How to preserve hot peppers for the winter at home?
Preparation
How to prepare hot peppers for long-term storage? Red hot pepper is everyone's favorite. It is what gives a special piquancy to any dish , and can easily become an excellent addition to any meal. Red pepper is used in cooking, in making sauces, and also as an independent seasoning .
It's no secret that red peppers keep well for a long time.
But our task is to preserve the vegetable during the winter so that it can delight us not only with its pleasant taste, but also with its properties .
Pepper is a type of fruit that does not need to be prepared for consumption.
That is, you just need to wash the capsicum and dry it a little from moisture, and the preparation is complete.
But some types of conservation and storage still require a different approach. If you don't want the pepper to become even more bitter by the time you decide to eat it, you will have to remove its seeds . They are the ones who contribute to the appearance of bitterness.
A quick and easy way to remove seeds from red peppers in this video:
Also remember that properly prepared peppers must be thoroughly washed . Insects, rain, soil residues - all this should not remain on the vegetable.
The best way to wash peppers is to place them for a few minutes . During this time, pieces of dirt, harmful microbes and bacteria will come off the surface.
Then the pepper must be rinsed with cool water and dried with a towel. If the recipe requires, cut the pepper lengthwise into two parts and scrape out the seeds. After this, the hot pepper is ready for subsequent preparations.
Botanical certificate
Bulgarian (sweet, paprika) and spicy (bitter, chili, tsitsak, jalapeno, etc.) are varieties of Capsicum annuum L. Translated from Latin, capsicum means bag, annuum means annual. More than 30 types of capsicum are known. They are united in the genus Capsicum, which belongs to the Solanaceae family, which includes the well-known potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants. By crossing species, many varieties have been developed, which are divided into spicy and sweet.
Hot peppers contain carotene, vitamins (the content of vitamin C is superior to lemon), and microelements. The vegetable has an antibacterial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, warming effect, strengthens the immune system, promotes weight loss, hair growth, and eliminates fatigue.
Hot varieties are recommended to be eaten in moderation
It is clear that there are also contraindications: food allergies, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system, kidneys, low blood pressure, childhood.
Methods
How to preserve hot peppers for the winter? There are several ways to store red hot peppers. In order to choose one specific one, you need to decide how you will use the pepper in the future . We will look at the main ways to preserve the hot vegetable and its beneficial properties.
How to preserve hot capsicums for the winter? Red hot peppers can be stored whole . To do this, you can hang it by the stalk along with some other vegetables on a rope and hang it in the room . Such storage will give you not only taste, but also aesthetic pleasure. During storage, the pepper will dry out a little, but will not lose its properties. Read more about ways to dry hot peppers in our article.
Peppers can also be stored as preserves . Sunflower oil is ideal for preserving the bitterness of the vegetable.
Place the pepper, pre-washed and seeded, into a sterilized jar
Then, you need to fill it with sunflower oil and, if desired, add spices and aromatic herbs.
The jar is rolled up with a sterilized lid and sent to a dark, dry place for a couple of months.
You can also grind pepper in a meat grinder . This method is suitable if you want to get homemade seasoning. You need to place the ground pepper on a baking sheet in the oven and dry it a little at 50 degrees. Then, after cooling, the ground hot pepper is placed in a bag , where it waits in the wings.
Drying peppers in the oven can also be done in their entire form. To do this, you need to place the washed vegetable on a baking sheet covered with paper and put it in the oven for a couple of hours at a temperature of fifty degrees. The pepper needs to be periodically turned from side to side.
How to cook hot peppers for the winter? Recipe for preparing hot peppers for the winter in tomato juice from this video:
How to dry properly
It is better to dry red peppers collected in large quantities immediately. After all, when fresh, it does not last long - 1-2 weeks.
In a dry, ventilated area
The pods can be dried on a string suspended in the shade, for example, outside under a canopy or in the kitchen. To do this, take peppers and string them on a needle and thread. The puncture is made in the area of the stalk. It is better to hang such a colorful garland in the kitchen near the stove. At this point the pods will dry out quickly. In addition, during the drying process, vegetables will release essential oils that have bactericidal properties. The room will also receive a dose of disinfection.
See also
How to store Jerusalem artichoke at home in winter, rules and best methods
On the windowsill
You can arrange the pods on a tray and place it on the windowsill, or simply pour the peppers onto parchment paper. It will take a long time to dry, about 2-4 weeks. Then the dried peppers need to be transferred to a dry glass jar and tightly closed with a lid.
In gas and electric oven
Vegetables are dried much faster in a gas or electric oven. The drying temperature should be 50-60 degrees Celsius. Leave the oven slightly open. The pepper should dry out, not bake. Drying lasts 3-4 hours. Dried pods can be ground in a coffee grinder. Powdered pepper takes up less space. Grind the pods along with the seeds. They are what give this seasoning its pungent, pungent taste.
Electric dryer
The pods can be cut into rings and dried in an electric dryer. The temperature should be 50-60 degrees above zero. The pepper takes about 12 hours to dry. Then it is transferred to a dry glass jar and tightly closed with a lid.
At home
How to keep hot peppers fresh for the winter?
Hot peppers can only be stored in a warm room. Unfortunately, leaving a vegetable in the cold risks spoiling it .
It's a completely different matter to freeze capsicums for the winter in the freezer. Read more about this on our website.
The temperature in the room should not exceed thirty degrees. At the same time, storage requires a certain dryness . In a humid room, hot peppers will begin to deteriorate.
It is also advisable to store it either in a poorly lit part of the room or in a completely dark place. This has a beneficial effect on beneficial substances that can evaporate in direct sunlight or fluorescent lighting.
How to store capsicums at home? Pepper, depending on the form of storage, can be left for a long time in special boxes .
As a rule, they are several boards nailed together.
Peppers can also be stored in jars. Often such a spicy vegetable is hung on a rope by its stalk .
Ground pepper can even be stored in regular bags .
How to store red hot pepper? Tips for storing salted and dried hot peppers in this video:
Freezing
Unlike drying, in which the pungent pods are often processed whole, when freezing the fruits are usually crushed. They are cut so that the size and shape are suitable for cooking.
Some housewives remove the seeds from the fruit when freezing hot peppers.
But there are those who prefer to preserve the sources of pungent taste and freeze the vegetable, cutting it along with the seeds.
The sliced fruits are placed on the tray in a loose layer, avoiding touching the slices. After a few hours, when the vegetable is frozen, the slices are transferred to a plastic bag or containers and stored in the freezer. Before freezing, shake the bag(s) to separate the pieces from each other.
At a storage temperature of minus 18-22°C (optimal mode), the vegetable can be stored for up to six months without any problems.
Uses frozen product in the preparation of soups (borscht, kharcho), stews, goulash, stewing and for preparing savory sauces.
Optimal modes
How to keep hot peppers fresh for the winter? Peppers should be stored at room temperature. Many people agree that the ideal temperature is between 20 and 25 degrees .
As for humidity, it should be minimal, otherwise the vegetable may rot .
You should also remember that the chili peppers must be prepared as well as possible - this is the key to successful storage.
Avoid direct sunlight or direct light from a lamp.
Hot peppers for the winter. A simple recipe for hot red pepper for the winter
Number of servings – 2 liters
Cooking time – 30 minutes
Preparing hot red peppers for the winter using this recipe is very simple, since this preparation does not require a long preparatory process or many ingredients. During the season, you can prepare several jars of hot pepper as if by the way, while pickling other seasonal vegetables.
- Chili pepper 900 gr.
- Garlic 2 heads
- Cilantro 1 bunch
- Dill 1 bunch
- Fresh mint 2 sprigs
- Water 3 l.
- Grape vinegar 300 ml.
- Salt 3 tsp.
- Granulated sugar 5 tsp.
- Coriander 5 tsp.
- Black peppercorns 15 pcs.
- Allspice 8 pcs.
- Cloves 6 pcs.
- Bay leaf 6 pcs.
Prepare all the ingredients needed to pickle hot peppers for the winter. Take bright red, ripe peppers. Take coriander and other spices whole, in peas – it’s tastier. Lay out everything you need on the table and make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
Wash the greens and garlic cloves, and then separate the stems from the cilantro, dill and mint. You can throw them away or use them in other dishes, but you won't need the stems in this recipe.
Fill a saucepan with a large amount of water and bring it to boil. Meanwhile, wash the hot peppers in cold water using gloves. Next, make several punctures in each pepper so that it marinates well and does not collect air inside itself. When the water boils, add the peppers and leave for about five minutes. Then you need to drain the water and repeat the procedure of steaming the pepper three or four more times, the main thing is that the pepper is not overcooked.
While the peppers are soaking in boiling water, you need to prepare the marinade. To do this, take the required amount of water into a saucepan, and add all the spices with herbs and whole cloves of garlic. Add salt and sugar, bring the marinade to a boil and pour in the vinegar. The marinade needs to be boiled for about two or three minutes, and then left under the lid for fifteen minutes. At this time, you can sterilize clean jars and lids for sealing.
Evenly distribute the herbs and garlic from the pan with the marinade into hot sterile jars, forming a kind of pillow for the peppers. Then pack the pepper very tightly into the jars and pour the marinade on top, along with all the spices that remained at the bottom. The marinade in jars should reach the very neck. Roll up the jars with the preparation with sterile lids, turn them upside down and wrap them until they cool completely.
This preparation is perfectly stored both in the refrigerator or cellar, and in the pantry. If you plan to prepare a small amount of peppers, you can screw the jars on with screw caps and not bother with long cooling times. Bon appetit!
Using the refrigerator
How to store hot peppers in the refrigerator? One way to store hot peppers is to store them in the refrigerator. To do this, the pepper must be properly prepared, namely washed and left without seeds. After this, a container is selected in which the pepper will lie. This is usually a sterilized jar .
Next, depending on how you want the pepper to look in the end, choose a recipe. You can add onions and garlic . Pour boiling water over it and close the lid until the pepper marinates. You can also pour warm sunflower oil .
The most popular method is to place ground pepper in a jar . While it is in the refrigerator, it will not begin to rot or lose its beneficial properties, provided that the container in which you placed it was dry and sterile.
How to preserve chili peppers for the winter? You can learn how to pickle chili peppers for the winter from the video:
Pickled hot peppers for the winter
The best taste of hot pepper, in my opinion, comes from the marinating process. That's why I decided to describe it first. Be sure to try it, this pepper is capable of circulating blood throughout the body and literally rejuvenating it with each pod eaten.
- Spicy pods - quantity depends on size per liter jar;
- Cherry, currant, horseradish - 4 leaves each;
- Pepper peas – 7 fruits;
- Garlic – 6 cloves;
- Various greens - a bunch;
- Clove seeds – 4 pieces;
- Ground cinnamon – ½ teaspoon.
For marinating:
- Drinking water – 1000 grams;
- Rock salt -2 tablespoons;
- Granulated sugar – 2 tablespoons;
- Table vinegar – 1 teaspoon.
Let's get started:
Then we put the prepared leaves and greens cut into medium pieces into jars. And all the dry spices that you have prepared are added there.
Now take the sharp fruits, rinse them thoroughly and place them tightly in prepared jars with herbs.
Fill the jars with boiling water up to the neck and leave for six minutes. Next, pour the water into a large saucepan and make a marinade from it.
Bring the water to a boil again and add granulated sugar and rock salt. As soon as they dissolve, pour in table vinegar and immediately pour into jars. Roll up the jars with tin lids.
The spicy appetizer is ready, all you have to do is wait for the cold weather and then taste the cooked spicy pods.
Shelf life
Chili peppers can be stored at home for a certain period of time depending on the storage form .
For example, peppers in a jar of oil, if properly preserved, can last from one to three years.
Dried ground capsicum will delight you for exactly one year, after which it will lose its taste and properties. Peppers hung by the stalk can be stored for no more than one year.
But hot peppers stored in the refrigerator will be good for exactly four to six months (until spring) from the moment they are sent directly to the refrigeration unit.
Thus, we can conclude that preserving pepper at home is quite beneficial , because for at least another half a year, you will be able to enjoy the taste of the spicy vegetable until new ones are ready to replace it.
Results
How to store hot peppers in pods? Of course, the storage procedure requires a comprehensive . You need to know how to properly prepare a vegetable, as well as how to choose the right form for storing it.
In any case, if you have studied all the issues related to this difficult matter, then you can start experimenting , because there is nothing more pleasant than enjoying healthy and tasty vegetables during a cold and long winter - as a reminder of the past summer.
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