Bell peppers are one of the most popular plants in any garden, and they’re certainly one of my favorite go-to ingredients in any home cooked meal! Learning how to make freeze dried peppers properly is important when you’re making the most of your Harvest Right Freeze Dryer.
Making Freeze Dried Peppers for Your Food Storage
Bell peppers are a favorite food in almost any dish. Eaten raw, they make a wonderful crispy snack. Fun factoid is that they’re actually a fruit! I was so surprised to find this out. I’ve always called them a vegetable and I might just not want to stop the habit.
Bell peppers are favored by nutritionists because of all of the healthy properties they contain. With the high amounts of vitamin C, magnesium, niacin (B12), potassium, and antioxidants inside each bite, they have great potential to keep your body protected against those little things that get you down. They are actually a great anti inflammatory as well!
Nothing is worse than being in the middle of cooking something that requires peppers only to realize, you don’t have any. But with the Harvest Right, I now have the fresh pepper taste all winter long!
Can you freeze dry peppers?
Yes, you can freeze dry peppers. Any pepper such as: green bell peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, cayenne peppers and jalapeno peppers are wonderful to freeze dry.
The important thing to remember here is how to freeze dry bell peppers. The freeze-drying process is super important if you want to save the hassle of clean up later.
Is it better to freeze or dehydrate bell peppers?
A food dehydrator has been the go-to method for creating shelf stable food for many decades now. The drying process used in the dehydrator super heats the food while it removes the moisture over a prolonged period.
While this way of creating shelf stable food is still used by many, this process removes vital nutrients. The Harvest Right Freeze dryer maintains all of the goodness locked away at the moments of freezing.
Do bell peppers need to be blanched before freeze drying?
Peppers do not need to be blanched before freeze drying. Blanching is a cooking process where you place you vegetable or fruit into boiling water, then remove it after a short time. After you remove the food from the boiling water, you place it directly into ice water to stop the cooking process.
Blanching is the preferred way to treat your food if you plan on using a dehydrator. But remember- dehydrating is not the same as freeze drying. I wrote more on that HERE.
Blanching food removes important nutrients that get lost in the boiling water. The Harvest Right Freeze dryer is able to completely preserve your food with all of it’s nutrients and goodness intact! So your food will have the same nutritional value on day 7,304 as it did on day one.
What can you use freeze dried peppers for?
Bell peppers are one of my favorite things, let me tell you!! I love putting them in soups, a stir fry, with a great main dish, any of your favorite recipes, or even as a family friendly afternoon snack.
Freeze dried bell peppers are amazing not only for emergency storage, but also a great way to help you have a convenient meal. You can throw together any recipe that calls for fresh bell peppers if you have these on hand for any future use.
How to Freeze Dry Green Peppers
- Bell peppers like to be dry, so save the washing step until you’re ready for the freeze drying process.
- Gather your peppers and clean them well. This is a food that gets touched often from harvest to home, so I like to take a bit of extra time to get them clean.
- Remove the top from the whole bell pepper, and cut the peppers into pieces. The cutting is a very necessary step! Bell peppers carry a lot of water in them and the freeze drying process will make them explode if they aren’t cut. The shape and size of the pieces aren’t as important as the fact that they must be cut.
- You can begin the freeze dry process once the bell peppers are cut into a shape and size that you like. Flash freeze on parchment paper. You can layer them on a cookie sheet fairly thick. The frozen peppers break off easily into the cut pieces.
- Using the Harvest right pans, I start by making a thin layer of the frozen bell peppers onto each of my five pans. This five pan load capacity is the leading reason I chose the Large Harvest Right.
- Set the machine to the proper settings given by Harvest Right and walk away! A full cycle usually takes about 24 hrs. You’re now able to have shelf stable, always ready bell peppers at your fingertips.
- The best way to store these are in mason jars or mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. If you store them in canning jars make sure to keep them in a dark place, away from the light.
In Conclusion:
Peppers are some of the easiest garden produce to freeze dry. Because of their liquid content and waxy outer shell, you’ll need to do a minimal amount of prepping before placing them in your freeze dryer. Freeze-dried peppers are such a great addition to your long term storage.
Plus, the Harvest Right allows you to stock your pantry for up to 25 years with their amazing shelf life. You can buy your peppers in bulk and save so much money.
Find out more about freeze drying in my New Large Capacity Home Freeze Dryer post and video.
FREE Emergency Pantry Planning Pack!
Don’t forget to sign up for the emergency pantry planning pack for free to help you plan your pantry meals! The free Emergency Pantry Planning Pack will help you plan your needed pantry items! Printable pages include pantry inventory, grocery lists, meal planners, list of pantry staple items, and more.
