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thawing frozen chiles?

Schnauzer

Schnauzer

I had frozen some of my bolivian rainbows. Yesterday I moved some frozen ones into my jar in the fridge to thaw so they were ready to eat. Today I have noticed they are mushy. I was hoping they would have thawed back to "normal". How long do they stay fresh in this mushy state? Any way to thaw without being mushy?
 
I have never thawed one that is not mushy. I always have plans to use them right away and usually run water on them for a few seconds then slice them while firm.
 
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Once frozen, there's no going back. Thawed chiles should be used right away, or within 24 hours.

The only preserving method I know of that will retain some crispyness in the chiles is cold pack pickling. But then the pods are pickled and will have that flavor also.
 
I have been told if you freeze peppers via dry ice, they will not get mushy when thawed. I have not tried this but would like to test the theory to see if there is any validity to it.
 
jbeers, are you thinking of freeze-drying?

I don't see how using dry ice would be any different than sticking 'em in a freezer...the pods get to a temperature below 32F...aka... frozen.

Freeze drying removes the moisture, but when rehydrated, I'm not sure how "crisp" they would be. Besides not being available to regular folks~~~ Has anyone used freeze-dried bell peppers? How's the texture when rehydrated?
 
I think maybe the dry ice might be similar to "flash frozen". Freezing very quickly.
Isn't that what Birdseye invented way back that revolutionized the frozen food industry for just this reason?
I think I saw it on a discovery channel show or something.
 
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]I think maybe the dry ice might be similar to "flash frozen". Freezing very quickly. [/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Isn't that what Birdseye invented way back that revolutionized the frozen food industry for just this reason?[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]I think I saw it on a discovery channel show or something. [/background]
Click to expand...

I think you're on to something. There has to be a reason that I can get frozen crisp veggies from the store, but I can't freeze peppers and keep them crisp. Or maybe peppers are just different than corn and peas and don't thaw as well.
 
They get mushy because large ice crystal development damages the structure of the flesh. I'm doubting that dry ice is cold enough to avoid this, you'll probably need liquid nitrogen or similar though orangehero makes an interesting point that if you have a non-frozen liquid cooled to significantly below freezing, submerging the peppers in it should speed up the freezing process since it conducts heat better than air, providing you have a high enough liquid to pepper ratio. My concern in doing this is that capsaicin is alcohol soluble, they may not be as hot as a result.
 
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