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storage Odd pepper freezing question.

Skydiver

Skydiver

So I'm watching some Good Eats tonight and AB was freezing strawberries with dry ice. He was saying that due to the intense cold that ice crystals have little chance to grow large and rupture cell walls, thus preserving them in an almost fresh state.

Has anyone tried this with peppers?

I'm vacuum sealing the majority of the habs I'm harvesting so I can make a batch of assburninating salsa and a goodly supply of hot sauce at the end of the year, and if dry ice would work better, I'd be all over it, my lovely little orange buddies deserve the best.
 
I have never tried it before but it sounds almost like what my uncle does with meat. He freezes his beef in slabs of ice. He says that this keeps the meat from getting freezer burn.
 
I freeze whole peppers all the time. Doesn't hurt 'em at all, although they get a little mushy when you thaw 'em out, so it's really only good if you're going to cook with them or make sauce out of them.
 
Would freezing with dry ice be similar to snap freezing that they do with vegetables? (Sometimes this is referred to as blast freezing, done at about -50C, i think.)

I'm not sure of the temp of dry ice, but if it is like snap freezing, then it sounds plausible.
 
ring sting said:
Would freezing with dry ice be similar to snap freezing that they do with vegetables? (Sometimes this is referred to as blast freezing, done at about -50C, i think.)

I'm not sure of the temp of dry ice, but if it is like snap freezing, then it sounds plausible.
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Yeah, that sould work fine also. I, however, just toss mine into the freezer and let 'em go and they're fine.
 
ring sting said:
Would freezing with dry ice be similar to snap freezing that they do with vegetables? (Sometimes this is referred to as blast freezing, done at about -50C, i think.)

I'm not sure of the temp of dry ice, but if it is like snap freezing, then it sounds plausible.
Click to expand...
Me recalls many years ago, me played with dry ice and stable form me got was about -75C and it reduced in a matter of minutes.
Me thinks anyway...
 
Omri said:
Me recalls many years ago, me played with dry ice and stable form me got was about -75C and it reduced in a matter of minutes.
Me thinks anyway...
Click to expand...

That sounds about right, Omri. Heres another amusing use for it. Dry ice is cold enough to pull out dings and dents in sheetmetal, but you have make sure to get a piece big enough so it'll last for the job. It works beautifully, but be warned, the noise the metal makes as it contracts that fast is unreal.
 
Dry ice + metal = really high whistling sound. that I remember. :)
LN2 and LOx are much more *fun*!
 
Hey Sky,,,What luck have you had with vacume sealing?I`ve wanted to try this yr with my habs but can`t find out if it works well.Thanxs for any info.
 
hixs said:
Hey Sky,,,What luck have you had with vacume sealing?I`ve wanted to try this yr with my habs but can`t find out if it works well.Thanxs for any info.
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I use my vacuum sealer constantly.
For peppers, I still get a loss of texture from the freezing process, but for long term storage it really can't be beat.
Most of the stuff I've sealed so far this year will be going into a cooked/canned salsa and hot sauces, so I've sorta given up on trying to dry ice freeze them, but I still may try it, just to see how it works.

TLDR: Vacuum sealers are awesome.
 
They are pretty cheap nowadays. I got mine about 10 years and it was cheap and is still working. Today, they're probably half it's price! Get one, you'll like it!
 
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