Should I (or can I) blanch green peppers before freezing them?
By Mary from Wakefield, MA
I'm going to assume you're talking about bell peppers. For years all I have done is take all the seeds out and the stem, cut them into slices then put them in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer.
I like to put bell pepper and onion in my tomatoes when I put tomatoes up in the freezer. So last week while my tomatoes were blanching, I chopped the bell pepper up and what I didn't use in the tomatoes, I put in the freezer.
I hear you can freeze onion, too. (07/01/2009)
By Susan
You can blanch them. Probably about 3-5 minutes. If you are going to use them as halves for stuffing, I'd blanch for appearance and texture. If chopped, maybe not bother. (07/01/2009)
By PENNY K
I freeze my own seasoning mix for soups and stews by chopping onion, pepper, and celery and mixing it all together on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and freeze for about an hour or so. When it's frozen just lift up the wax paper off the cookie sheet and slide the veggies into my freezer containers for future use. It's a great time saver for me. (07/01/2009)
By belinda
You do not have to blanch green peppers, onions, or celery. I've frozen them for years. If you chop the peppers, celery, and onions they are ready to use when you want them. They do not have to be defrosted when put in something being cooked. I cut some peppers in half for stuffed peppers. (07/01/2009)
I've made stuffed raw bell peppers mixing the rice, ground beef, onions, and garden tomatoes and placed the mixture inside the raw bell peppers and put in one gallon freezer bags. They kept well in the freezer until ready to use. Just put what you need in a covered pan with a little water in the bottom to help steam them done and the taste was the same as when made fresh.
Also, I've cut up raw bell peppers from the garden that didn't grow very large to use as additional pizza topping and just took what I needed from the freezer bag and resealed and put back into the freezer til the next time. It's a good way to salvage smaller peppers besides adding to a salad.
(07/01/2009)
By Myrna
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