Freezing Peppers Before Making Sauce

[NorthernJeff]

Hi everybody,
 
Like many of you are, I'm harvesting a lot of peppers right now, and want to experiment with different sauce recipes + different peppers.  Problem is I don't have time to make everything at once, and all these peppers are ripening so fast.  
 
Since I can't use them all right now, and I don't want them to go bad for sitting too long, I was thinking about putting all the extra peppers in seperate bags (per variety) and then pulling/thawing them as I need them for making another batch of sauce in the future.
 
Does freezing the hot peppers diminish their taste/heat for sauce making?  
Overall, is freezing advised or a bad idea?
 
Thanks.

 

[NorthernJeff]

Here's an example of what I harvested in the last week and a half:
 
39 Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
58 Butch T Scorpion
69 Jamaican Hot Chocolate Habanero
65 Naranja Picante Habanero
61 Orange Hab
26 Yellow Ghost
69 Red Savina Habanero
4 Bahamian Goat
9 Carolina Reaper
 

 
 

 

[AJ Drew]

I think the freezing process makes them just a hair sweeter and helps to bring out the underline flavors.  They range so much in heat that I can not tell if freezing does a thing in that department.  I even freeze before dehydrating, read that doing so will kill -some- things that drying might not but I think that is mainly in beef jerky.  The only significant difference I can tell is that they loose texture and gain some sweetness.

BTW: Tbere is a wine made from grapes that went threw a frost.  Reportedly, it is sweeter too.  Might be some science about converting starches into sugars but I am not that bright.

Bravo on the Red Sav.  I love those things.  Eat them fresh so you can stuff them.  So damn good.

 

[MikeUSMC]

Does freezing the hot peppers diminish their taste/heat for sauce making?

I can't really speak to this, but I've never noticed a difference. Then again, my palate isn't as fine tuned as a lot of people here. The texture will definitely change though; they'll be a lot softer, but won't be a problem at all for sauce

Since I can't use them all right now, and I don't want them to go bad for sitting too long, I was thinking about putting all the extra peppers in seperate bags (per variety) and then pulling/thawing them as I need them for making another batch of sauce in the future.

Overall, is freezing advised or a bad idea?

Not a bad idea at all, man. I'd bet that a lot of people here freeze them first. I know I do. Lots of people vacuum seal them first. I personally don't have one, so I just double bag them in ziplock freezer bags until I'm ready to use them

Best of luck!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Freeze away! You'll be fine.
 
If you ever do a mixed pepper sauce that turns out to be killer, you can even freeze that batch of peppers together for easy access to a batch.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

 
 

If you ever do a mixed pepper sauce that turns out to be killer, you can even freeze that batch of peppers together for easy access to a batch.

 

     And THAT, folks, is why we keep this guy around this place. Great advice! I will be using that trick at some point in the future when I'm growing more than one plant again.

 

[oldsalty]

I've got about 25 to 40lbs of frozen peppers now great for ferments or just to add that great pepper flavor and heat to your favorite meals.

 

[blue6demon]

I always freeze my peppers, and do a lot of hot sauces, never had anyone complain. They do get soft but that ain't a problem for hot sauce making.
 
My advice, keep some in the fridge if you want some power poppers or make some recipes with them, the rest you freeze!

 

[Juice]

i freeze mine on a cookie sheet before bagging to make sure they dont freeze in a ball. 

 

[Bold Badger Sauces]

I find frozen peppers taste almost the same as fresh, they're fine for cooking, in chili, etc.  With a starter I've had decent success fermenting frozen peppers, but the few times I've turned them into non-fermented sauce it winds up with kind of a soapy taste.  Just my experience though.