Oh my! I can not believe the amount of tomatoes and peppers my garden has put out this year. I have been preserving it all in so many ways and have shared a lot of it with you so far.
Today, I am going to show you how I prepare it all for the freezer.
Cherry Tomatoes
If you have ever planted a cherry tomato you will have experienced an abundance of tomatoes from just one plant. Usually, I am trying to find people that I can share them with, as it is hard to eat so many when they start producing.
This is the first time I have ever cut them in half and put them onto a tray to freeze them. After one day I took them out and vacuumed-sealed them for later use.
Sweet Peppers
I did plant 12 red, orange, and yellow peppers this year. They all did wonderfully, but for some reason, a lot of my orange bells got black spots on them. I will have to research why that may have happened.
After removing the seeds and pith, I slice them into sections and chop them using this little gadget. It takes no time at all to chop a good amount of peppers up. I love using things that make my life a bit easier in the kitchen, don't you?
Once these are all cut up I put them on a tray and flash-freeze them for one day before packaging them up.
Here is a small tray of yellow peppers ready for the freezer. I used a larger blade for these with the gadget. I will use this size of diced pepper for most of the dishes I make for dinner.
The peppers are frozen solid, put into bags, and sealed. Vola, I now have a freezer that is overflowing with peppers, onions, and tomatoes.
I love my FoodSaver machine and use it to preserve all my veggies and meat products. It really does make a difference in keeping the freezer burn to a minimum. I think it helps to keep the food longer in my opinion.
Onions
I do the same process for my white onions as I do for the peppers. Onions freeze nicely for a long time and it makes it so easy to just take some out of the package when needed.
Onion & Pepper Mixture
I am doing small diced for this batch since I will be adding them to egg dishes I will be making for my husband's breakfast. It makes it so easy for me to add them to different dishes without having to chop each thing every time I am cooking.
Jalapeno Peppers
I over-planted a variety of hot peppers this year thinking my son would use a lot of them. That however was not the case. Here I am chopping them with the small dicing blade and then freeze them on the tray for a day before packaging them with the vacuum sealer.
I will use these in many dishes over the winter, but, my favorite is to make Jalapeno Cheddar Bread or biscuits. They are so delicious and a great treat for my family.
I will share a recipe with you for the bread in an upcoming post. I made some last week and oh my, it was so tasty.
Dried Cayenne Peppers
I did put these hot peppers into my dehydrator as I did not need them for anything right away. I have already put up enough hot sauce this season for a small army. I won't have to make any next year, or perhaps, one never knows, right?
Sweet Corn
Lastly, I purchased a dozen sweet corn to put up this year. I do not have room enough in my urban garden to grow it myself. I went to our public farmers market and found my favorite variety, bread & butter corn.
The only step that is different than the onion and peppers is you have to blanch the corn on the cobs for 6-8 minutes. Then cool them down in an ice bath before removing the kernels from the cob.
Well my friends this post has become longer than I thought so I will end it here. I hope you have as wonderful a harvest as I did and are able to preserve it all too.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
Sun. Scape. Ing Your Day
Amazing amount of peppers, tomatoes, onions in your garden! The freeze dry machine is very interesting. I should drop by to be your assistant so that I could learn how to preserve vegetables this way.
I bet you have plenty of produce yourself to take care of. Perhaps you could teach me a thing or two.
Not really. We could grow vegetables almost all year round, except in rainy season. People don’t do preserve as there are always plenty of cheap vegetables and seasonal fruits. But I would love to make my own fermented vegetables one day. The cost for freezing and electricity would be too costly for most villagers. So, they buy fresh produce everyday or grow some vegetables in their gardens.
Ah, I see and totally understand that. My son lives in Panama and all the locals do the same thing. It is so easily available to them too. I grew up around all my relatives who were farmers of one kind or another. I guess it is just in my blood and I still love growing and preserving like my grandmother did.
Wow you sure got a lot of produce this year = your stores must be full!
I sure did get a lot, especially peppers. I think next year I won't plant so many of each variety. I ran out of room to store them all.
Delighted to see the photos of your crops, they look very good and how to freeze them for the time of preparing your food. Greetings
Thanks, Petrica, I had a huge harvest this season and I still have more to preserve. Thanks for stopping in today.
Dios Bendiga su terreno.
I really ought to invest in one of those vacuum sealer devices! My smaller tomatoes didn't start to ripen until late in the season, so I won't be freezing any. But I have oodles of whole tomatoes in the freezer to make salsa and sauce later on. I thought I planted yellow peppers, but they stayed green. Oh well! I haven't tried freezing onions. I like the idea.
I’ve put that chopper on my Christmas list….
I love using the chopper when I have a lot to do. It sure makes it easier for me and faster too. It comes with a lot of different blades and accessories.
I don't eat them you can have them I don't like the taste in my mouth
@sunscape I have a question. Do you buy most of your seeds from seeds & such ? They have a sale on heirloom seeds. If I buy them now do I store them in the refrigerator ?
I save my own seeds every year from the best fruit or I buy from Baker Creek Seeds. Either way, I just keep them in my pantry until I plant them up. Only perennial seeds would benefit from being cold for a length of time in the fridge. Have fun!
Thanks 👍
Great post sunscape, You probably have more produce in your trash than I have in my garden.. Lot of good tips.. thanks
I did have a lot of produce this year. I think I need to plant less of each next season as I barely had enough room for it all. My compost pile is a bit large this year, lol.
To bad we weren't neighbors 🙀