Frozen peppers and possible options? Pics inside.

Kwest13 · Aug 30, 2014

Hey all.

First time posting on this forum instead of the growing forums because I finally have some pods to work with! :onfire:

I have a not-so-good tendency growing a little late in the season but I'm in south FL so I can kind of battle it out. The result is kind of a slow harvest, but a harvest none the less.

I've been having pods coming in on my plants slowly and have been pulling them once fully ripe and slowly adding them to freezer bags.

My question is. How limited am I as to what I can do with frozen pods? I've tried reading and reading and reading and I keep hearing that they will thaw a bit mushy but are still good for sauces, puree, ect.

My main and first original idea was to make some crushed cayenne flakes, and i'm not finding much information on whether it can be done with frozen peppers. I know i'm supposed to make flakes or powders by drying / baking fresh pods from the plant but I can't exactly dry / cook one pod at a time as they ripen off the plant.

Any ideas would be fantastic. :drooling:

HopsNBarley · Aug 30, 2014

They can definitely be dehydrated from frozen.
Although it is possible to dehydrate in the oven, I would suggest buying a dehydrator if you plan on doing many batches.

Sarg3 · Aug 30, 2014

dehydrating from frozen is fine. They tend not to thaw well and aren't so bad if you go straight from freezer to cooking while frozen. If I were to dehydrate and depending on my dehydrator I would probably toss them in it frozen.

By the way, cool trick for freezing. Use a straw and suck out the air as you're closing the baggy

Kwest13 · Aug 30, 2014

HopsNBarley said:
They can definitely be dehydrated from frozen.
Although it is possible to dehydrate in the oven, I would suggest buying a dehydrator if you plan on doing many batches.

Never used a dehydrator before. I've been reading weird things like if you dehydrate super hots, you have to use a room and put a towel under the door because of the potency it gives off? I know nothing about it really but it sounds weird.

Browning said:
dehydrating from frozen is fine. They tend not to thaw well and aren't so bad if you go straight from freezer to cooking while frozen. If I were to dehydrate and depending on my dehydrator I would probably toss them in it frozen.

By the way, cool trick for freezing. Use a straw and suck out the air as you're closing the baggy

Yeah I was mashing the air out. Never thought about using a straw. Thanks.

Sarg3 · Aug 30, 2014

Kwest13 said:
Never used a dehydrator before. I've been reading weird things like if you dehydrate super hots, you have to use a room and put a towel under the door because of the potency it gives off? I know nothing about it really but it sounds weird.

Yeah I was mashing the air out. Never thought about using a straw. Thanks.

I don't advise dehydrating in the house at all. I set mine up on the deck. Tried in the house once and within 20 minutes the whole house was toxic. We were coughing, eyes burning, etc. lol

Kwest13 · Aug 30, 2014

Browning said:
I don't advise dehydrating in the house at all. I set mine up on the deck. Tried in the house once and within 20 minutes the whole house was toxic. We were coughing, eyes burning, etc. lol

Hah! Wow. Does a dehydrator work that well over thawing?

Scovie · Aug 30, 2014

If you have a Food Saver™, freeze the pods first on a tray, then put them in the vacuum bags, they thaw much better, but are still a little "not fresh". LOL

Yeah, the dehydrator kicks out toxic fumes and will fumigate you out of the house.

amievil · Aug 31, 2014

Scoville DeVille said:
Yeah, the dehydrator kicks out toxic fumes and will fumigate you out of the house.

So that is how I get rid of the in-laws and the kids? :lol:

wildseed57 · Aug 31, 2014

I have my dehydrator right on my kitchen table and have not had any problems myself, but it runs my grand daughter out of the house sneezing and coughing, I don't even get a tear eye. I feel that it depends on how many peppers you do at one time and how much you are exposed to them, One thing I can't do is fry a cut up super or ultra hot pepper in a pan as they tend to really throw out the vaporised capsaicin oil making my kitchen a no go area to anyone.