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Freezing Pods

djdestructo

djdestructo

Sorry if this is the wrong section, however I was wondering if freezing pods has any effect on thier taste or heat level when making sauces.
Since I am getting 4-5 pods every couple of days I would like to store them until I am ready to make a giant batch of sauce and right now I am just putting them in a freezer bag.
 
 
 
vac seal if freezing is good or use the zip-seal bags.  No difference in taste or heat, but the flesh will be total mush.  Not a problem if the pods will be cooked afterwards.
 
 
I've had good luck using the Veggie-Fresh produce bags to keep fresh pods in the refer for a few weeks while accumulating enough pods to dry/sauce/whatever...
 
I hate the mushy innards that result from freezing whole pods. I have found that slicing in half lengthwise helps.
 
it doesn't matter if they turn mushy. i chop them when still frozen, it's a dumb idea to defrost frozen pods before cooking.

frozen pods will lose their flavour over a long time without freezer bags (that breezer burn flavour everything gets after too long in an open freezer). but in the near future, i personally feel freezing is the best way to preserve the flavour (i had a load of habanero pods frozen last year)
 
Freezing tends to make the chiles SEEM hotter, but actually it just balances the heat across the board by balancing out the mild and spicy ones.
 
What do you mean 4-5 pods every couple of days?  There is no need to pick them the first day they turn a ripe color.  Some people suggest that encourages the plant to grow more but this isn't the case.  The plant will grow more either way because it is no longer investing energy in increasing the size of as many pods and had been growing sites (forks) to start new ones already.
 
Besides, the tastiest a pepper will be is if you let it sit until the flesh starts to soften up a little, the last stage of ripeness.  You practically stop the enzymatic action that causes this stage by freezing them, but of course once they reach that stage they should be frozen if not used right away to preserve them because from that stage to starting to rot only takes another week or so (varies a little by species, humidity level and temperature).
 
Then again, I don't know how hot nor how much sauce you want to make.  It is likely the earlier ripening ones would rot before you amassed a hundred at this rate, but I would at least leave them out of the freezer and ideally on the plant until the last stage of ripeness, with the exception that this can add a lot of weight to the branches so consider how much stress they can take.
 
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