preservation Preservation thread

[YAMracer754]

That's a killer way to dehydrating nice harvests without killing the electric bill, not to mention keeping the color and flavor intact from going low and slow

This arrived today. Rather disappointed the top is solid and there is no bottom hanger. I cant flip it over or secure the bottom so the wind wont move it as much. Tons of drying space though. 6-2ft round layers. Roughly 2714.28 square inches/18.85sqft of drying area.

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[YAMracer754]

First, a website that will answer most of your questions about canning & preserving and has hundreds of recipes:  http://www.sbcanning.com/
 
I will cook just about anything from SeriousEats.com or CooksIllustrated.com.  Canning on SeriousEats, here:  https://www.seriouseats.com/tags/canning
 
You don't need a subscription to do a search on CooksIllustrated.com, but will to actually get the recipe.  However, much of their content has already been republished in the web.
 
Recipes:  A few of my favorites:
 

Bloody Mary Mix:  http://www.sbcanning.com/2012/07/homemade-bloody-mary-mix.html?m=1
 
Canned, Marinated Peppers, for mild to medium peppers:  https://cookingupastory.com/how-to-can-marinated-red-peppers-video-recipe  (I never seem to make enough of these  , they are that good)
 
Sweet & Sour Hot Peppers:  http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/252965/sweet-pickled-peppers/ (I've used this recipe to pickle green beans, sliced jalapenos, sliced carrots; I think you could pickle just about any veggie with it.)  To hot process it, just prep as stated and, instead of refrigerating, process it in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
 
Red Pepper Relish:  https://www.thespruceeats.com/homemade-sweet-bell-pepper-relish-3059161  (I used my Aleppo flakes instead of paprika.)
 
Fresh Tomato and Caramelized Onion Jam Recipe:  https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/09/fresh-tomato-caramelized-onion-jam-recipe.html
 
Pepper Vinegar, from Cooks Illustrated:
6 ounces tabasco, red Fresno or red jalapeno chiles, halved lengthwise
3 cups distilled white vinegar
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
 

Pepper vinegar is spicy. For a milder vinegar, remove the seeds and ribs from the chiles.
Pack chiles in clean 1-quart glass jar with tight-fitting lid. Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, and pepper flakes in medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Pour brine into jar, making sure chiles are fully submerged. Let cool completely. Affix jar lid and refrigerate for at least 3 weeks before serving. Pepper vinegar will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 months.
 
For the Freezer:
 
Roasted Tomato Soup:  https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/roasted-tomato-soup-recipe-1917339  (I prep it through roasting the tomatoes, then portion and freeze it for later use.)
 
Red Sauce:  halve any ripe tomato you have, put on a sheet pan cut side up, toss in some peeled garlic cloves and any fresh or dried herbs you have and like, salt and pepper the lot and drizzle with olive oil.  Slow roast at 225F until the tops of the tomatoes look dry but the meat is still moist.  Put through a food mill on the coarsest setting you can.  Portion and freeze.  To save space, I use FoodSaver bags and freeze them flat.  Same for the Roasted Tomato Soup.
 
If you have a Kitchenaid with the power port on it's front, invest in a KitchenAid FVSFGA Fruit/Vegetable Strainer with the Food Grinder Attachment for it.  If you sign up for Williams-Sonoma emails, they'll eventually send you a 25% off offer, with free shipping.  I have a few attachments for mine, but use this the most.
 
Finally, a couple of books I found that I enjoyed, in no particular order:
 
The All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 200 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes
Jarden Home Brands  (The canning BIBLE)
 
Foolproof Preserving: A Guide to Small Batch Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Condiments & More
America's Test Kitchen  (I'll trust just about any recipe from Cooks Illustrated)
 

Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces from the author of Food in Jars
Marisa McClellan  (Love this for when there's not enough for a big project)
 
The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving: Over 300 Recipes to Use Year-Round
Ellie Topp, Margaret Howard
 
Preserving Italy: Canning, Curing, Infusing, and Bottling Italian Flavors and Traditions
Domenica Marchetti  (Some of the few tested recipes I've found for preserving in oil.  If you make anything from this book, make it the Passata di Pomodoro)
 
Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round Hardcover – May 22, 2012
by Marisa McClellan  (Author)  (More by Marisa;  she has an amazing blog:  http://foodinjars.com/)
 
 

Yeah I bought the FVSFGA parts for my kitchenaid but have only made several quite large batches of pasta sauce, tomato sauce with peppers, and roasted Italian herb/tomato style sauce and have used peppers in all of them, and then had my first ventures into canning all of it-its been fun, getting easier and more confidence, just still not sure what else I can do with it, especially in regard to the peppers..

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[YAMracer754]

Also, wonder if I can ziploc freeze then in paste or halved form and then vacuum seal them in the near future and still retain all the benefits or vacuum sealing since I'm still in the process of purchasing a vacsealer..

 
Mostly depends on how soon you think you will be using the peppers-
 
How many POUNDS of peppers are you expecting to harvest?
How much TIME do you have to spend processing said peppers?
Do you have room in an outside place (garage/balcony/frontyard/) for a dehydrator?
 
If you think you can process all the freezered chiles in regular zipper bags to some form of sauce/dry/cannedpuree at some time in the next 6 months.....then regular cheepcheep zipper freezer bags from the corner grocer is fine. Good quality zipper bags are better...! No freezer burn to worry about.
 
Thinking that the quick freeze is just to get the chiles on ice and figure out what to do with them later.  GREAT and very wise course of attack. 
 
If you feel that the frozen chiles will get used/processed in less than a year, I don't think taking the extra money/step it vac seal is necessary. 

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[nmlarson]

Yeah I bought the FVSFGA parts for my kitchenaid but have only made several quite large batches of pasta sauce, tomato sauce with peppers, and roasted Italian herb/tomato style sauce and have used peppers in all of them, and then had my first ventures into canning all of it-its been fun, getting easier and more confidence, just still not sure what else I can do with it, especially in regard to the peppers..

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I've not used it with peppers.  Maybe someone else here with one could chime in.  If you're going to make a pureed hot sauce, could you use it to strain the sauce of seeds and skin after cooking?  You could use the grinder portion to grind them prior to cooking?

 

[dragonsfire]

Apache peppers left out in a dish, dried now.
 

 

[YAMracer754]

Was that just simple outside drying, whole peppers and all no cuts?

Apache peppers left out in a dish, dried now.
 

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[YAMracer754]

Yeah maybe someone else on here has one and uses it as well..? The kitchenaid has a grinder? I have lots of the parts meat grinder parts and plates and all that..

 
I've not used it with peppers.  Maybe someone else here with one could chime in.  If you're going to make a pureed hot sauce, could you use it to strain the sauce of seeds and skin after cooking?  You could use the grinder portion to grind them prior to cooking?

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[dragonsfire]

Was that just simple outside drying, whole peppers and all no cuts?
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Nope, in the kitchen.

 

[Ashen]

Can we still ferment them just as successfully after freezing? I don't know about the blackness either my guess is some sort of pest but idk.. It seems to scrape and rinse off ok though when fresh, about to process some tonight for freezing and drying so will get ym feet wet seeing what these frozen boys and girls look like..

-Also, salsalady says that the only thing frozen peppers will NOT do is pickling and candying.. So while some of these superhot and hots are fresh, it would seem wise to do a little of that and freeze the rest for now and do some dehydrating on some as well. Do superhots do well for pickling recipes or are there some good pickling/candying recipes for those either on here or on zee Google?

The candying recipe salsalady linked is killer. If you want something really special, use the leftover syrup to make hot butterscotch or as I call it butterscorch. Sorry I don't have exact measures but drop a good couple tbsp each of butter and some whipping cream into the leftover syrup cook out the water a bit and when it looks like really runny caramel pull it off the heat. It will tighten up as it cools. Great on ice cream

 

[AndyW]

The candying recipe salsalady linked is killer. If you want something really special, use the leftover syrup to make hot butterscotch or as I call it butterscorch. Sorry I don't have exact measures but drop a good couple tbsp each of butter and some whipping cream into the leftover syrup cook out the water a bit and when it looks like really runny caramel pull it off the heat. It will tighten up as it cools. Great on ice cream

My plan for next time I make candied jalapeños is to cook the syrup a little longer and make suckers.

 

[salsalady]

I have taken the bulk of the peppers onto jars and put the leftover syrup into jars also. Just keep it in the reefer after opening, use in stir fries, dessert syrups, wing sauces for the extra sweet kick....

Don't waste it, use it.

 

[YAMracer754]

Nope, in the kitchen.

What did you use to dry them?

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[dragonsfire]

Just left them on the counter, thats it. As long as you have the stalks on they don't go moldy.

 

[YAMracer754]

That's impressive, I noticed they get soft and wrinkly and I figured that was them getting/going bad-but you just continue past that stage then? I've been pretty happy using my electric nesco dehydrator but would be cool to know if there are other ways to process more at one time and hopefully retaining more color/size/aroma/shape.. So not even a slit on the pepper? Works for all types of peppers?

Just left them on the counter, thats it. As long as you have the stalks on they don't go moldy.

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[dragonsfire]

I have not had any problems, have done bigger ones like Hot Portugal and the Long Cayenne. If I slice them then Il put them in the dehydrator.
 
Hot Portugal from last year, average 5"
 

 

[YAMracer754]

re: freezing peppers-
 
btw- congrats on having such a wonderful dilemma as too many peppers! 
 
When freezing peppers, I wash, trim, cut open every single pepper, and then freeze.  You can freeze whole or half, but that takes up a bunch of space in the freezer.  Take one more step and blitz the fresh chiles in a food processor to just get them down to small mince pieces.  Stuff 'em in flat zipper freezer bags. 
 
The flat bags freeze fast, stackable, defrost fairly quickly, and maximizes freezer space. 
 
 
The AlabamaJack's Puree recipe is really good for a base that can be used for sauces, used straight out of the jar, it could be dehydrated...it's a great way to make a concentrated product that can be used down the road for -whatever- strikes your fancy as you are stuck inside in the winter and drooling over the seed catalogues...
 
 
Dehydrating is fairly light on the time requirement aside from the pepper preparations.
 
Candying is the most time consuming.
 
Pickling is also easy.  Cold packing is the very easiest, but requires room in the fridge to just pack the pickles in brine and stick 'em in the fridge.  Boiling water bath pickling is a little more time consuming, but again, is a quick simple process and can go to the pantry.  Doesn't need reefer space.
 
Have Fun!!! Post Pics!!! we luuv pics~~ 
 
SL
 

Well here's my second time trying the "snake method" on my weber grill, did it a few days ago to make a boneless Boston butt pork roast and threw some peps on just for shits and gigs, and dehydrated them afterwards and was impressed with the amount of the pecan smoke they took on, so I'm doing a solely peppers thing this time without water trays to keep the moisture to a minimum and smoke to the maximum, and then freeze/dehydrate what I have afterwards.. Tell me about my thinking if it's good or bad.. Thinking about maybe trying some tomatoes and tomatillos?? Squash? Okra?

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[PtMD989]

What, no pictures of the Boston Butt? Jk


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[YAMracer754]

I should've taken one after as it was art gallery (or food gallery worthy) [emoji23], but here's what I got left!

What, no pictures of the Boston Butt? Jk


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Mind you after cleaning and eating a ton it's quite smaller!

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[YAMracer754]

I'm learning that these smoked peppers seem to have a much better intrinsic value at dehydrating vs their fresh counterparts.. All these guys smell like pecan smoke and seem to dehydrate leaving their color shape smell aroma, and all associated features much more intact than just straight dehydrating them fresh with no adulteration..

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[CaneDog]

I'm learning that these smoked peppers seem to have a much better intrinsic value at dehydrating vs their fresh counterparts.. All these guys smell like pecan smoke and seem to dehydrate leaving their color shape smell aroma, and all associated features much more intact than just straight dehydrating them fresh with no adulteration..

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What's your procedure for smoking them?  I dry and grind a lot of peppers, but never smoked 'em first.  
 
Maybe I should practice some adulteration with my peppers before I get to dehydrating them.
 
EDIT:  Wow, did I totally miss your post just above.  I happen to have the exact same grill and chimney on my back deck.  Adulteration by "snake method" it will be.