Picking Pecks of Peppers
This year I had a bumper pepper harvest. I could have left them on the plants longer, but I wanted to clear out that spot in the garden to move the strawberries. Thus I ended up picking mountains of peppers. Most of them will be roasted over a fire and canned, some will be stuffed and frozen (here’s my recipe if you’re interested).
Some of them were given to neighbors, others have already been used for delicious meals. There are still a good many to process, looks like I’ll be busy tonight!
The small peppers are the Mini Bells I talked about last week, I’m thinking I’ll make mass quantities of bite sized peppers stuffed with sausage, onions, garlic, herbs and cheese. I made a batch of ricotta earlier this week just for them. I think popping a few of these beauties out of the freezer for a quick breakfast or dinner will be so convenient.
Do you like green peppers? What’s your favorite way to enjoy them?
Filed under Around the Garden, Canning, Edible, Freezing, harvest, Harvest Keepers Challenge, Peppers | Comments (6)
Every year I try to grow peppers, but must be doing something wrong. I can have a bumper crop of everything else in the garden, but the peppers are either tiny or don’t even get that far. I resort to buying bulk from a local grower. Your peppers look gorgeous!
to Eliza J's comment
Susy, I do like green peppers but didn’t get many this year. I got a few to eat fresh and gave a couple to my mother in law. I usually stuff them or use them in omelets for breakfast. Some times they will get chopped and put into fresh salads. I was greatly disappointed about the pepper harvest this year. Well, the entire garden harvest was disappointing. I’m starting to dig potatoes. From three plants I filled half a five gallon bucket so I should do well with them. I’ve already started cleaning up the garden which is a full month ahead of schedule. I took the snow blower in for servicing a couple days ago. This weather just smacks of early hard Winter.
Have a great pepper pickin’ day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
Wow! That’s an awesome amount of peppers! Great idea stuffing and freezing them.
Hailing from the southwest, I love peppers. When I moved to Seattle, people here thought I was nuts trying to grow peppers. Without humidity and warmth, you just can’t grow a decent pepper, eh?
Now I have a hoophouse that produces bounties of them. This year I planted purple bell, jalapeños for my hubsie, cayenne for those pots of winter beans, and Ancho and Anaheims. The Anchors were the most prolific by far. I think my favorite way to preserve is slice and dice for the freezer. Before that, I am hoping to make some Chile rellenos.
Can’t wait to hear how you pepper canning turns out!
to whit's comment
This was a terrible year for peppers. Couldn’t even find sweet peppers for planting. So disappointing because I love them on everything. Curious to know if your stuffing is the traditional one or somewhat different.
to carol's comment
I only moderately like “green peppers” because they are green.. not fully ripe. I love red bell peppers and thats waht I’ll reach for every time if I can.. I grew up living in the middle of vast acres of them & many left on the “vine” so as a kid, I’d scavenge the leftovers… Yum.. great memories.
My peppers did moderately ok this year… My poblanos are always slow to put on but toward the end of the season they come on like gangbusters.. My plants are loaded right now but Im still waiting for them to become good sized.
My bells did ok.. but not amazingly good…. My jalapenos did moderately ok too..
I too stuff mine and then freeze them.. I pop them in my pressure cooker or slow cooker and it makes a fast easy & tasty meal.
I bought a case (25#) of Hatch Green Chilis this year. I roasted & canned them up to have on my pantry shelf thru the winter and that so far has been my favorite pepper use this year..
Im off to the farmers market in a few minutes to pick up a bushel of jalapenos I ordered and I intend to make Cowboy Candy and plain pickled jalapenos with them.. Yum! Cant wait! :)
to KimH's comment
That certainly looks like a bumper crop of peppers! We had a nice crop of bell, Marconi, jalapeño, banana, and Hungarian hot wax peppers here in West Virginia this year. I like the idea of growing the mini bell peppers and stuffing them as you said. It sounds delicious, especially as a fast breakfast!
I really miss listening to the Cultivate Simple podcast, but still enjoy reading your blog. Thanks so much for all the work you put into both. They have been very inspirational and given me so many interesting ideas to implement into our life.
to Brian S.'s comment