So I live in the middle of a bunch of farmland. I'm on good terms with one of my neighbors. They told me that they're done for the season with the peppers, and everything out in the field was basically going back to the land. In fact, they ran a tractor over it to help the process along.
…this is maybe 0.001% of the peppers that were just going to rot.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with this amount of peppers.
I took a bag earlier before I understood the scale with the idea of just making a few jars of red pepper sauce. And then I thought oh I guess I could also make some red pepper jelly. But this is a monumental amount of peppers. This is like a few hundred pounds of peppers. My dumbass that can't stomach waste literally filled every single bag I had in the house with them.
If anybody has any easy ideas, I'm all ears.
I have two air fryers, a giant microwave, a two chamber oven, and instant pot, a small dehydrator, and two slow cookers. And a pretty standard electric range. I could have quite a few things going concurrently. What I do not have is freezer space.
Thank you for any input.
by SpadesHeart
34 Comments
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https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/pickle/vegetable-pickles/marinated-peppers/
This is a crowd pleaser
How many neighbors do you have… Failing lots of friends and neighbors, do you have local food banks? Soup kitchen? Church that will give them away sunday?
As a thought, i have had good luck in the past pureeing peppers and slow cooking down like i make ketchup or apple butter. Get a thick seasoned pepper “butter” that i then dehydrate. It is a nice flavor additive for tomato sauces and stews or soups.
Dicing and dehydrating works well too, farless effort. And once dehydrated and flaked or powdered they are easy to freeze or refrigerate in a compact form.
I have made a lot of peppered corn bread as well, fine dice them and mix into corn bread.
Beyond that, pickled peppers– many quarts of them.
You would need a pressure canner for canning it as either roasted or plain peppers. If you have a dehydrator, you can dehydrate and make pepper powder (not sure how close it would be to paprika since that’s with a specific variety of pepper). Share the bounty or barter with others. Any that aren’t in good shape can be put into the compost to enrich the soil (so don’t think of it as a waste).
Pickled peppers if you have fridge space (if you don’t have enough proper canning jars or water bath canner). You can use any glass jar for fridge pickles.
I have been using my peppers for stuffing. Here’s a very tasty recipe for cream cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped peppers (you can use any kind of pepper but the smaller ones would be sort of finicky):
[https://tsgcookin.com/2013/06/bacon-wrapped-stuffed-anaheim-peppers/](https://tsgcookin.com/2013/06/bacon-wrapped-stuffed-anaheim-peppers/)
Muhammara! Yum!
Something like this one:
https://www.themediterraneandish.com/muhammara-recipe-roasted-red-pepper-dip/#wprm-recipe-container-10628
Get some mesquite charcoal. Over a hot fire, roast peppers until they are charred black on the outside. Put them in a bowl with a lid for a few minutes. Peel the skins, pull the peppers open and deseed. Dredge the peppers in cider vinegar with a little salt in it. Pack into pint jars, pressing and squeezing air out. Fill the jars to about 1/2 inch less than usual. Fill to near the top with olive oil. Put in the fridge. This will keep for a few months and the peppers are absolutely delicious.
We make 12 or more jars a year and always end up eating them all. They are fabulous in grilled cheese sandwiches. Great on cracker with cheese or in salads, or omelets.
Congrats, you’re the person in the math problems 😂
Roasted red pepper spread is excellent
You can pickle them, cowboy candy is excellent you can mix hot and sweet peppers for that
Marinated peppers are also great
Reach out to a food bank near you!! I bet they would love this. Alternatively you can make a bunch of stuffed peppers and freeze them.
We chop up all of our peppers and dehydrate them. You could fit all of that in 2 pint jars.
Of course I’m exaggerating, but I’m actually a little uncomfortable about how accurate my exaggeration is.
Paprika?
Sun dried?
I would dice and freeze dry every single one and then proceed to eat every little morsel as a crunchy and delicious snack all year long. Do you know anyone with a freeze dryer?
Cook meat, stuff, freeze.
I just dehydrate and make chili. Yum.
Plant less next year?
Pickled peppers, pepper jelly, roasted red peppers. Got a dehydrator?
If it were me, I would roast, peel and freeze it in quart ziploc batches.
We have a vac sealer and had a record pepper harvest
We will be eating stuffed peppers all winter long
We stuffed them with cabbage roll meat, Italians sausage, meatball mix, and meatloaf meat. Multiple batches of all
I would like that problem
[removed]
Make your own homemade paprika powder if you have access to a dehydrator/freeze dryer
You can pickle sweet peppers or freeze them either halved or chopped to enjoy all winter long
I was going to suggest a food bank as well. My local food bank LOVES getting any produce.
My go to recipe is stuffed peppers. I use 2 parts lean ground beef to 1 part ground pork. I mix in an egg and some raw rice. I love making them with the end of the garden clean out.
Ask around for friends with dehydrators to borrow? That is my favorite way to preserve them. My oven has a dehydrator setting, too. Could fit a bunch at a time in there. Roast some and peel, then can the roasted red peppers.
Not a canning solution, but I make stir fry packs to freeze. Mostly sweet peppers, some hot peppers, some eggplant, some squash, and some green beans (or whatever veggies you have and like in stir fry). Vacuum seal and freeze; now you have veggies for stir fry meals all year.
https://preview.redd.it/9gqynyisyrvf1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf4a282c2d2457af115ba02920214eef3725a21d
Edit, just saw your comment about being short on freezer space, so disregard. Leaving this up in case it helps anyone else with an abundance of peppers!
I slice and freeze then use them all year
We use a lot of roasted red peppers, so I bought a bunch of peppers for a deal, roasted them and canned them.
I got one jar.
If you start by roasting and peeling them, and then pressure can them, the volume will shrink dramatically.
If you could manage to cut them, they freeze really easy.
That is enough peppers for a very long time. Lol
If you like veggies I highly recommend you try Ajvar. It’s made with red bell peppers and eggplants.
It’s one of my favorite things. It goes well on toast or crackers…. One of my buddies who is from Masadonia mixes it with scrambled eggs… It’s one of the best things on earth. Flavor is mild but delicious.
I found this ball recipe. I would love to try to make it, but red peppers are so damn expensive where I am. You have a good neighbor!!!
https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=ajvar-eggplant-and-pepper-spread-recipe
Cut them up and freeze them. Great for sauces or stir fries.
Woot! Look at that!
The solution is something called Ajvar. Eastern European red pepper spread. My dad makes it. Delicious. You can easily use all of that up no problem. The peppers shrink so you won’t even have that much.
Come to the /r/dehydrating side and make paprika
Roasted red pepper dip or sauce. Delicious!