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preservation Preserving Megahots

Derelict

Derelict

Questions from a newbie, so thanks for your patience!
 
I'm hoping for some recommendations based on real world experience preserving megahots over the winter for use in homemade sauces.  I am most concerned about preserving the peppers that are not available commercially such as Caroline Reaper, Ghost Pepper, Scotch Bonnet, and the exotic variants of habanero (red, brown).  The plants are now producing heavily and something must be done until the growing season ends.  What is everyone's experience with the options?
 
If the pepper is large (like an Anchor Poblano or Anaheim) I can grill it and freeze it.  But the megahots are all tiny so what might be the better alternative?  I am also considering making sauces and freezing them as well, but are there drawback to this?
 
Thanks for your recommendations!  Any and all comments are welcome.
 
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Puree's are a fantastic option. There's an excellent thread here about it. It preserves the flavor while making an outstandingly potent concoction.

Freezing is perfectly acceptable especially if you are going to cook or make sauce with them seeing as how freezing ruptures the cell wall and makes the peppers mushy when they thaw. Best practice when freezing is to slice them in half. Just to make sure there isn't any black or nasties inside the pepper. My experience has shown that if I keep peppers in the freezer I forget about them. Which in turn leads to freezer burn. Probably be best to vacuum seal em if you plan on storing them for a while.

Dehydrating is good. But if I'm going to dehydrate I might as well going to a powder (just my opinion). Powders are very versatile while bringing out the more subtle flavors of individual peppers.

You can always make sauce. If you make it with a low enough pH then hot fill you won't need to freeze. Personally I wouldn't freeze hot sauce any way.

But honestly, I just slice them in half and put them in a jar of vinegar in the fridge door because I'm lazy like that ;)
 
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sirex said:
Puree's are a fantastic option. There's an excellent thread here about it. It preserves the flavor while making an outstandingly potent concoction.

Freezing is perfectly acceptable especially if you are going to cook or make sauce with them seeing as how freezing ruptures the cell wall and makes the peppers mushy when they thaw.

Dehydrating is good. But if I'm going to dehydrate I might as well going to a powder (just my opinion). Powders are very versatile while bringing out the more subtle flavors of individual peppers.

You can always make sauce. If you make it with a low enough pH then hot fill you won't need to freeze. Personally I wouldn't freeze hot sauce any way.

 
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Great info!  Can you point me to that thread about purees?
 
When you freeze, do you cook in the oven first to bring out the flavor, like I do with Hatch chiles?
 
What process do you use for dehydrating and going to powder? 
 
I don't want to freeze sauce, I like fresh sauce.  We're in sync there, great minds think alike!
 
 
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http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/page-1

I don't roast my supers before freezing. But you certainly can.

When dehydrating I cut in half. Deseed. And then dehydrate until they are crisp. Thicker wall peppers will take longer. Then blitz em in the grinder. Then dehydrate the powder more usually. I find that a lot of times even when I think the papers are fully dehydrated there's still a tiny bit of residual moisture that reveals itself in the powder by clumping. That's when I pop out the fruit strip tray that comes with most dehydrators and put the powder on there. Dehydrate some more and follow that with a other round of grinding.
 
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