storing pods for making sauce

[BenVanned]

I know to freeze pods but would it work just as well to make puree and can it for future sauce batches? What about drying and rehydrating pods?

 

[Jeff H]

I guess it is just personal preference if you really want to dry them, but freezing them is faster, takes less energy and you don't have to mess with hydrating the pods when you are ready to use them. The only reason I do use some dried peppers are for including the smoke dried peppers like Chipolte and smoked Habs into my hot sauces.

There really is no down side to freezing them.

 

[salsalady]

Canning is a good option if you have the means to properly pressure cooker can the ground up pods. It's more work than freezing, but if your freezer is getting full, canning is another option.

Do not boiling water bath plain chiles, only pressure cooker plain chiles. If you mix the ground chiles with enough vinegar, you can boiling water bath, but you should use an approved vinegar/chile recipe from an extension service or Ball recipes.

 

[jimhaleii]

lot of work to can then have to get it back up to 190 for 10mins to pasteurize and then bottle...i clean my pods, de stem and seed, then vacuum pack and freeze...bought a 7 cubic foot mini freezer just for this purpose. with 350 superhot plants, cant possibly make enough powder and sauce to keep up with plant production...im a 1 man show. trust me, freezing is the best option if you cant process sauces now. good luck!

 

[BenVanned]

Canning is a good option if you have the means to properly pressure cooker can the ground up pods. It's more work than freezing, but if your freezer is getting full, canning is another option.

Do not boiling water bath plain chiles, only pressure cooker plain chiles. If you mix the ground chiles with enough vinegar, you can boiling water bath, but you should use an approved vinegar/chile recipe from an extension service or Ball recipes.

This would be plausible considering I would have to hit the proper PH. I understand I would have to continue to lower the PH as the volume of sauce increases (adding ingredients). The problem I see with using a approved recipe is finding one for the particular pods I am using. I would imagine Ball does not have a recipe for water bath canning Trinidad Scorpion puree.

 

[PIC 1]

Any method works...I have been freezing pods for some time now for future sauce making. That's the easiest.
But if your searching for a unique flavor the dryed pods are a nice addition. A sauce made from a fresh ripe Chile de Arbol (birds beak) has less of a complex flavor compared to the sun-dryed Chile de Arbol. Add another layer of flavor by toasting the dryed pods along with some dryed spices...

 

[BenVanned]

I have some dried birds beak in a fermentation vessel right now. There is a thread about fermenting dried chilies and nobody seemed to know if it was possible so I am trying it.

 

[RocketMan]

+1 to all answers.

What it all really boils down to is do you like Vinegar or not. If you do then make a purée, can it, water bath it and stick it on the shelf till your ready to use it.

If you don't then you have several choices. You can freeze the whole pods, grind up all the pods into a mash then vacuum pack it, do you have a Food Saver, and freeze it or start a fermentation. When the fermentation is complete you can move it to a cooler place and let it continue to age and get better.

 

[salsalady]

This would be plausible considering I would have to hit the proper PH. I understand I would have to continue to lower the PH as the volume of sauce increases (adding ingredients). The problem I see with using a approved recipe is finding one for the particular pods I am using. I would imagine Ball does not have a recipe for water bath canning Trinidad Scorpion puree.

You can substitue any pepper for peppers listed. I took your post to mean you were just wanting to save the pods now and make some sauces later. If the recipe calls for 5 pounds of jalapenos, 5 pounds of t-scorps will process the same way. You can also use a recipe that calls for onions, and other veggies. Ignore all the other veggies, just use the chiles and follow the amounts called for. I just glanced at the Ball recipes (didn't look through all of them) but there was one that called for cups of several different chiles and pounds of tomatoes. Just total up all the cups of various chiles, and use chiles in place of tomatoes by the pound, eliminate all the spices (they don't effect pH, just flavor) and use the recommended vinegar/water ratio.


Here's the recipe I was looking at. Eliminate the spices, use all chiles instead of tomatoes, garlic, etc. Use the listed vinegar:water ratio.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipe.aspx?r=145