Can fried peppers be frozen? How to freeze peppers for the winter for stuffing

24.08.2021

Freezing peppers has its advantages. Oh, how nice it is on a rainy winter day to take out frozen sweet bell peppers from the refrigerator and please the household with real summer and insanely fragrant borscht. This piece is great for preparing a variety of dishes like soups, stews, goulashes and even stuffed peppers! Real jam!

In addition, frozen vegetables retain most of their health benefits. So, having stocks of pepper in the freezer, you can not only cook delicious food, but also be completely confident in its maximum benefits for the body.

Going to the market in order to buy bell peppers, you should remember a few rules. They come in handy for choosing those fruits that are best suited in order to freeze them.

So, firstly, the vegetables should be free from damage, putrefactive spots, dents.

Secondly, you should pay attention to the walls of the pepper, which should be thick and fleshy. After all, it is such a fruit that has a rich taste, it will not lose its shape when thawed and will retain its taste for a longer time.

Harvesting pepper for the winter is an activity that even an inexperienced novice housewife can handle.

First of all, you should decide on the culinary preferences of your family. So, if, for example, a stuffed pepper dish is not held in high esteem, then you should not take up valuable space in the freezer with whole fruits. In this case, it is more expedient to prefer slicing.

Having bought the right peppers, you can get down to business directly.

Preparation of containers and vegetables themselves for freezing

For freezing vegetables and fruits, there are special bags on sale that are tightly closed or tied.

Many freezers are equipped with a removable tray. Such a device is perfect for freezing peppers. Although plastic trays or other flat dishes that won't freeze to the walls are fine. If a tray is used, cover it with a cotton cloth, after which the chopped vegetables can be laid out in a compact arrangement.

We start preparing vegetables. First of all, the peppers must be washed thoroughly. After that, you need to carefully cut off the stalk and use your fingers to remove the seeds and partitions. You should not use a knife, because the fruit can be damaged and some of the valuable juice can be lost. Having cleaned the inside of the fruit, it is imperative to dry the excess moisture by blotting it with napkins. The water in the pepper can prevent it from freezing properly, creating unnecessary chunks of ice. As a result, vegetables are likely to soften when thawed.

Harvesting whole peppers and chunks

After making sure that the peppercorns are completely dry, you need to insert one fruit into another, like a constructor. Don't make huge towers, six or seven vegetables are enough. After that, the peppers nested one inside the other must be packed in special bags for freezing. After these manipulations, you can place the fruits in the freezer. Freeze there for 3 - 4 hours, after which the vegetables must be shaken to avoid sticking to each other. After 48 hours, we can say with confidence that the freezing is completely complete!

Why freeze in chunks? It is good if there is a huge freezer where you can put half a garden, providing the family with useful substances throughout the winter months! But if space is limited, then you have to save it. So, chopped vegetables take up much less space in comparison with whole vegetables.

Use a sharp knife to chop the pepper. Depending on the plans, you can chop the vegetable into small cubes if the fruit will be used for soups. If various stew recipes are popular in the family, then cutting into slices, strips or even circles will also be relevant. It is very important to exclude the presence of moisture. To do this, it is best to put the chopped peppers on paper towels and stir them with your hands from time to time. After that, you can transfer the slices to a container for freezing. After holding the pepper in the freezer for several hours, you can take it out and knock it with your hand or a rolling pin a bag or a bag with cubes (slices) into the layer. This is necessary for the notorious saving of refrigerator space.

How do you know if the pepper is already frozen? Very simple. The fruit should be completely hard. As a rule, two days is more than enough for complete freezing. By the way, it is best to decompose the pepper in portions, that is, for one application. This will preserve the taste of the product for a long time.

Using frozen peppers

Do not completely defrost the vegetable. But you can hold the whole fruit under running cold water for a few seconds, then continue cooking. Chopped peppers should be added to hot meals directly from the refrigerator.

So, freezing a pepper is not at all as difficult as it seems at first glance. The advantages are obvious: enjoying tasty and healthy food when it is snowing and freezing outside the window. The main thing is to follow the basic simple rules, and then the summer in the refrigerator is provided for everyone!

Bell peppers frozen in slices can be added to soups, stews, sauces, and whole pods can be stuffed and baked. Before you freeze the bell pepper, it is important to prepare it correctly, then the vegetable will retain its taste and aroma in full for a long time.

How to freeze bell peppers correctly? Choose bright, ripe fruits - they better retain taste and aroma

For freezing, choose ripe, brightly colored fruits with thick walls and no signs of damage or spoilage - these are the peppers that have the most intense aroma and taste.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter?

Wash the fruits, dry them with paper towels and start harvesting.

Remove the stalks, the seeded core, and the hard white inner septa. There is no need to wash the inside of the peppers: excessive moisture will impair their taste.

Cut into quarters, slices, or cubes - use the method most often used for fresh peppers.

Line the tray with a cotton towel, spread the pieces in one layer on top of it and cover them with a cloth on top.

Place the tray in the freezer for 2 days to allow the pepper to fully harden.

Pack the pieces into airtight containers or bags and place them back in the freezer.

Peppers can be added to soups, stews, sauces and other hot dishes without defrosting. If you want to cut into smaller pieces, soak them a little in hot water, but do not defrost them completely, otherwise the peppers will become too soft.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter? In pieces - for soups and stews, whole - for stuffing

How to properly freeze bell peppers for stuffing

For stuffing, you need ripe, large fruits of the same size, without signs of spoilage and rot. Before freezing the peppers, they should be washed, dried, and the caps, stalks and core removed. You can freeze the peppers already stuffed, it will be easy to cook from them - just take them out of the freezer and send them to the oven, but in this form they take up a lot of space. The easiest way is to freeze the peppers and then stuff the frozen vegetables.

Place the peeled peppers in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer. Leave it on for 24 to 48 hours.

When the peppers are completely hardened, carefully stack them in a pyramid, one inside the other, and pack them in bags. Remember to release all the air from the bags and check for holes. If you store bell peppers in open bags, they will quickly lose their aroma, become dry and tough.

You can blanch the fruits before freezing so that they cook faster and become more tender. There is no need to defrost the peppers - fill with the filling and send to the oven. Bon Appetit!

Hello dear readers. Every year we wait for the onset of that very season of fresh vegetables and fruits, and not only in order to have time to get enough vitamins, but also to prepare them for the winter. During this period, it is important to gather strength and start harvesting various conservation. Of course, some of us are overcome by laziness, and in the winter we simply buy store-bought preserves, from which you are unlikely to extract enough vitamins. It is hardly possible to replace home preservation with something, so it is better not to be lazy and keep the vitamins of your favorite vegetables in a tightly closed jar. This option is most suitable for preparing various sweets in the form of jam, or salad with the addition of many healthy vegetables. If the goal is to preserve all the vitamins contained in a particular vegetable, exactly in full, then freezing will still be the best way.

Indeed, during the preparation of any conservation, vegetables are heat treated, which means that a significant part of their vitamins will be lost.

Today we will talk about how to freeze bell peppers for the winter correctly, in order to preserve its beneficial properties.

Many people believe that peppers need to be frozen in their entirety so that their vitamins somehow do not get out of it. But there are several ways to freeze, or rather, the types of preparation of peppers for freezing.

How do we benefit from freezing fresh peppers?

First of all, I must say that freezing any vegetable implies the preservation of all its nutrients, which you definitely cannot find on supermarket shelves in winter.

And even if you manage to find the right product, it is unlikely that it will be fresh or natural.

Most likely, you will be "lucky" to find a sluggish pepper stuffed with chemicals, besides, its price will definitely not please you.

Pros of frozen bell peppers:

✔ Thanks, directly, freezing, our pepper retains all its useful properties.

The thing is that by freezing a fresh product, we avoid heat treatment, which kills most of the vegetable's vitamins.

✔ "Winter" pepper, which you can find in the supermarket during the cold season, has a rather high price, and it is unlikely to be justified by at least one of its properties.

✔ The pepper, prepared by us at home, will be distinguished by useful qualities, in the preservation of which we can be sure.

✔ One of the stages of preparing peppers for freezing involves cleaning the vegetable from seeds and tails, not to mention cutting it.

This way, when preparing food in winter, you can save some time that you could spend on the same cleaning.

✔ We can be sure that our vegetable has been frozen only once, which means that it still contains all the vitamins we need.

After all, ready-made frozen vegetables, which we can find in the store, most often do not differ in quality.

You cannot be sure that only fresh vegetables were used for freezing, moreover, they can be frozen more than once.

Which pepper is suitable for home freezing?

You need to choose only fresh vegetables, and it should be of high density.

Only dense pepper can contain a large amount of juice, in which most of the vitamins will be concentrated.

Have you bought a couple of kilograms of pepper? Do not tighten, and immediately start freezing it while it is still good for it.

Of course, no one says that a little dull peppers cannot be frozen, but we want to eat a fresh product in winter, right?

But if it so happened that you started looking for fresh vegetables late, and only a little sluggish peppers remained on the market, then this is also not a problem.

Such a product simply lost some of its moisture, but this does not mean that its vitamins left the vegetable along with it.

Therefore, immediately after buying or collecting your pepper, you need to start preparing it for freezing, especially since it will not take too much time, like, for example, conservation.

How should the process of freezing peppers go

Well, there is no secret or secret ingredient here that will help our pepper "overwinter".

There are two ways to prepare such a vegetable, which differ only in the presence or absence of cutting it.

Peppers can be frozen whole or in small pieces. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we will definitely understand.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter in slices

This method is liked by all housewives, as it allows you to save time directly during the preparation of a particular dish.

Thus, you just need to get the already chopped peppers out of the freezer and just give them a little time for them to come to their senses.

Then you can safely add it to a salad or serve as a side dish to the main dish.

How to prepare peppers for freezing correctly

Well, everything is quite simple here. Our main task is to select high-quality peppers, without lethargy and the presence of any signs indicating the process of decay.

Having chosen suitable peppers, we need to rinse them with cold water, and then give them time to dry.

It is important to remember that the pepper should not be wet before freezing, as the presence of excess water can cause the peppers to stick together in one layer, which will ruin their natural shape.

In this way, it will be much easier to get rid of all the seeds, and all will have to be removed. Indeed, for the most part, it is the seeds that contain the main bitterness (this applies only to bell peppers).

And who likes to find pepper seeds in a salad that will definitely catch your teeth, right?

By the way, if you freeze the pepper exactly in pieces, then the process of removing the seeds will seem much easier if you cut the pepper lengthwise and remove all the seeds without hindrance.

The first stage is common to both freezing methods. Further, each of us himself chooses in what way the freezing will be carried out, each of which we will now consider.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter correctly - freezing methods

Any of the methods will be correct, it all depends only on the purpose of this workpiece.

If you plan to pamper yourself with fresh salads during the cold season, then pre-chopped peppers are more suitable for you.

But if your favorite dish is stuffed peppers, then you can get by with the method of cutting off the cap.

In general, if you set yourself the goal of eating right and tasty all winter, then it is better to play it safe and prepare both types of pepper. Who knows what you want tomorrow?

Maybe today you are determined to maintain your figure by eating light salads, and tomorrow you will spit on this venture with the words "Walk, walk like that." And from finely chopped peppers it is unlikely that it will be possible to cook stuffed peppers.

So, back to our methods of freezing peppers, with which we can get vitamins regardless of the season.

Cut the peppers, already peeled from seeds, into rings. This operation can be done using special graters, which cut vegetables into even circles with the same thickness. You can, in fact, do all this manually, depending on how you calculate your strength, of course.

It is better to freeze such pieces immediately, and during the freezing process, it is necessary to ensure that the rings do not turn into one continuous layer.

This will be quite simple, since the pieces themselves are quite large, which means that they can be detected immediately sticking to each other.

Cut the peeled peppers into half rings. So it is also convenient to use it.

Cut the peppers into small cubes. In general, this method differs from the previous one only in the way of slicing. It is exclusively for gourmets who like finely chopped vegetables.

Lay the chopped vegetables in a thin layer on a flat, even surface in order to control the possible gluing of the pieces. Therefore, it is necessary to check the condition of our peppers from time to time.

After that, we lay out the already frozen pieces of pepper on pre-prepared vessels that can be tightly closed.

This will protect your pepper from extraneous odors from other foods, and the smell of pepper in this way will not be able to spread through the refrigerator.

The choice of containers for storing pepper blanks

You can freeze bell peppers for the winter in pieces, cubes, rings, half rings, whole and even stuffed. But the choice of containers for freezing is also very important.

Plastic containers with tight-fitting lids.
Cellophane bags.
Dense polyethylene bags.
Zip bags.

You can store frozen vegetables both in simple plastic bags and in tight-fitting containers.

If you are a fan of pepper, and decided to thoroughly deal with its preparation, then in this case you will need containers that will also close tightly.

Of course, regular thin bags can be used, but this method is not the most practical.

The problem is that when frozen, the peppers can stick to the bag, and separating them from each other can cause you some inconvenience.

If the operation is performed incorrectly, the pieces of polyethylene will remain with the pepper, which is unlikely to be liked by anyone.

Therefore, if you are still more impressed by bags, then the best choice would be an airtight bag with a fastener. Thus, there will be no exchange of odors between the refrigerator and the product.

In addition, usually such bags are made of sufficiently dense polyethylene, due to which the problem of freezing of parts of the bag to vegetables will be solved.

How to freeze peppers for the winter for stuffing - meat, rice, vegetables

For such a blank, it is best to select peppers of different sizes: from large to small, and why this is necessary, we will figure it out a little later.

So, we select only fresh vegetables without any damage, after which we rinse it under running water and wait for the moisture to evaporate from its surface.

And only after that we remove the upper part of the vegetable using a sharp knife. This must be done carefully enough, because the shape of the pepper for such a dish is of great importance.

By the way, the cut off caps can also be frozen if at the end of the cooking you want to cover the stuffed peppers with them. Sounds great, doesn't it? But this is for those who like to get confused and present to guests not only a tasty dish, but also a beautiful one.

Preparing whole peppers for stuffing

Again, there are two ways to store the peppers for future freezing.

We put our peppers one to another in a simple bag, after which we try to release excess air from it. Thus, it will definitely not take up much space in the freezer.

This method helps in saving space, and you can prepare a large amount of product, and it will take up very little space.

Remember when we said that peppers have to be of different sizes? It is for this method that they will be useful to us.

So, the secret is that peppers, already peeled from hats and seeds, must be put into each other, as a result of which, we will get such a little train.

This method, from an ergonomic point of view, is the most successful. Such "locomotives" are packed in a simple bag, from which it is also necessary to release all the air.

This method is somewhat similar to the principle of stacking nesting dolls, because we put a smaller vegetable in the largest pepper.

Some people freeze stuffed peppers straight away, which you can simply remove from the freezer and cook right away.

But this is not the most practical option, because the cutting time for such peppers is significantly limited.

Do I need to defrost peppers before cooking

It depends, first of all, on the quality of the freezing. If you made sure that the pieces of peppers did not have time to "grow together" with each other, then you can safely add them to the future dish.

But if one large layer has managed to form from individual pieces of pepper, then the process of separating the part you need will be quite problematic.

Therefore, it makes sense to freeze peppers in small portions so that you can use the entire amount of pepper at once. Thus, you do not have to waste time defrosting this food.

What dishes can you use frozen peppers in

Well, it all depends on how much you love bell peppers, and how strongly your imagination is developed.

It will become the heart of any diet salad, with the addition of cabbage and carrots, for example. Besides, what is winter borscht without pepper?

And, of course, we all love stuffed peppers, for the preparation of which we usually use canned peppers or frozen stuffed peppers.

They give their taste to the same extent as fresh, but they contain an order of magnitude less vitamins.

Is it permissible to re-freeze the product

In general, nothing terrible will happen, but still it is undesirable to do this. The fact is that repeated freezing becomes the reason for the loss of the taste of the product, due to which the dishes prepared from it will have an insufficiently saturated taste.

But the most important thing is that most of the useful substances of bell pepper will be lost, and we definitely do not need this. After all, we freeze this product in order to preserve all the vitamins, right?

What should be the freezing temperature for peppers

The thermometer indicator should not be lower than 18 degrees, because if the temperature is lower, then our product will simply lose its usefulness.

Therefore, it is important to set the correct temperature in the freezer so that the freezing process does not turn out to be useless.

How long can frozen peppers be kept in the freezer?

In general, pepper can be stored for about one year, so we will just have time until the next harvest.

This means that you need to make a stock of the product that you can use until next summer.

Pepper itself has a fairly large amount of nutrients that are essential for maintaining our health.

Its vitamins will be especially useful to us in the cold season, when diseases begin to attack us from all sides.

Therefore, you should immediately prepare a sufficient amount of pepper for freezing. It doesn't matter which of the freezing methods you like, any of them implies the preservation of all useful substances.

Even in cold winters, you can enjoy summer dishes that will bring you not only the same unique taste, but also tremendous health benefits. Now we know for sure how to freeze bell peppers for the winter correctly with the ability to preserve all vitamins.

How to properly freeze bell peppers for the winter? This question is asked by housewives who want to preserve the beneficial properties of the product for a long time. Freezing bell peppers, as well as preparing them for conservation, have nuances that must be taken into account when preserving the product for a long time.

Freezing food is perhaps the most useful type of preservation. The vegetables and fruits in the freezer not only do not spoil, but also retain the maximum amount of useful vitamins and microelements.

In addition, it is convenient - the preparation of vegetables, containers and the freezer takes much less time than rolling peppers into glass jars and drying vegetables.

Attention! Of course, frozen peppers can be purchased in the store or, if you wish, in the cold season, you can find fresh vegetables in the supermarket. When buying frozen vegetables, there is a risk of purchasing a product that is repeatedly frozen. In addition, it is not known the bottom whether the peppers were frozen fresh or were they already starting to deteriorate?

Buying fresh fruit does not always meet expectations: instead of a fragrant, beautiful and fresh vegetable, you can buy a dried-up pepper at a high cost.

Selecting and preparing a vegetable before starting the process

In order for frozen vegetables to preserve their taste and vitamins as much as possible, it is necessary to choose the right fruits for freezing. So, for the preservation of green, red and yellow sweet Bulgarian peppers, large fruits with a smooth skin not damaged by insects and rot are suitable. Vegetables will need to be rinsed under warm running water and allowed to dry. If you start freezing wet fruits, they can stick together, as a result, the product will lose its shape.

The seeds must be removed from the fruit and the stalk must be cut off. It is recommended to clean the insides by hand, as a knife can damage the inner walls of the vegetable.

Choosing bitter or hot chili peppers also pay attention to the appearance of the fruit. Only superficially ideal vegetables are frozen. The fruits are washed under running cold water and dried thoroughly. Hot chili peppers are harvested as a whole.

After the fruit has dried, you can proceed directly to freezing. It can be done in several ways, but first you need to get suitable utensils and prepare the refrigerator for freezing.

Attention! To "bring down" the spiciness of the chili pepper, before freezing the product is kept in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

Preparing the refrigerator

Before freezing the fruit, you must defrost and thoroughly wash the containers in the freezer and refrigerator. It takes time to dry after washing. A dry and clean refrigerator is ready to freeze vegetables. When performing it, you should also observe the commercial neighborhood: for example, it is recommended to allocate a separate container for frozen peppers, and not even leave packed food next to meat and fish.

What utensils do you need

For freezing in the freezer, plastic boxes with a tight-fitting lid, cellophane and zip bags, as well as bags specially designed for freezing peppers are suitable.

Attention! The product to be frozen must be sealed in a plastic container or bags (for reliability, the fruits are packed in 2-3 bags and tied tightly). Otherwise, other food stored in the freezer will smell like bell pepper.

The best ways to freeze peppers at home

Bell peppers can be frozen in several ways, they are chosen depending on the subsequent use of the product and personal preferences.

Entirely in the freezer

After thoroughly washing and drying the fruits, the bell peppers are frozen whole. This will allow you to stuff them in the future. For fresh vegetables, you will need to cut off the stalk and peel the seeds from the fruit. Then they are laid out in one layer on a cutting board, wrapped with cling film and placed in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator for 3-6 hours.

Halves

When harvesting bell peppers, you can freeze them in halves. The advantage of this method is that the fruits harvested in this way will take up much less space in the freezer.

After washing, removing the seeds and stalks, the fruits are cut in half lengthwise, then the halves of the vegetables are placed in small zip bags, or tightly tied in ordinary cellophane bags. When distributing the fruits, it is necessary to determine the exact number of pepper halves that will be used at one time. The fruits sorted in this way are removed to the freezer.

In pieces

Bell peppers can be prepared in slices, rings, cubes or strips for different types of dishes:

For stews, soups and gravy, cut vegetables into cubes.
For pizzas and pies, vegetables are cut into strips or casters.

To remove excess moisture (vegetable juice released when cutting fruits), the sliced product is dried with paper napkins or towels before freezing. Next, vegetables are placed in plastic bags, having previously released air from there, or in plastic, hermetically sealed containers.

Assorted stew

Sweet peppers are frozen as part of assorted vegetables. The most popular are the following types of frozen vegetables:

Paprikash. The assortment contains finely chopped peppers mixed with chopped zucchini, tomatoes and beans in pods.
Rustic mix. The assortment consists of finely diced potatoes, peppers, beans in pods, carrots, onions, corn. Broccoli is also added to this mixture. The vegetable is pre-blanched before adding to the assortment.
Lecho: cubes of blanched peppers, onions, tomatoes, courgettes.
Dressing for borscht: the mixture contains finely chopped peppers, tomatoes, beets. Onions and carrots are also added here.
Hawaiian mix: semi-cooked rice, chunks of pepper, corn and peas.

Freezing baked sweet peppers

Oven-baked vegetables are also frozen. The pods are washed, but the stalk and seeds are not removed. The products are placed on a greased baking sheet and sent to the oven for forty minutes. Take out the browned vegetables, put them in a saucepan and leave them like that for 15 minutes. Further, holding the fruit by the tail, remove the skin and carefully remove the insides.

The cleaned product is cut into small pieces, sorted into containers and poured over with the juice formed during baking. Such a product can subsequently be used for making salads.

Attention! Baked bell peppers can be frozen as a whole.

Freezing stuffed peppers

Bulgarian peppers are frozen and stuffed. To do this, the finished semi-finished product is placed at a short distance from each other on a cutting board, wrapped in cellophane or cling film. Then they are placed in the refrigerator for an hour, and after cooling, they are frozen in the freezer (if possible, set the temperature as low as possible). After freezing (it takes from 4 to 7 hours), the product is put into bags (air is removed from them beforehand) or containers and placed in the freezer.

Attention! It is not recommended to freeze stuffed peppers for more than 8 hours. Otherwise, the moisture contained in the peppers will evaporate, and odors will be exchanged between the ingredients of the stuffed dish and other foods stored in the freezer compartment.

With dill and parsley

In order for the pepper to get a rich aroma, it is frozen with dill and parsley. To do this, take 150-200 grams of herbs and half a teaspoon of salt for 2-3 kilograms of pepper. Pepper and dill are thoroughly washed and soaked in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Then the water is changed and the greens are left for another 10-15 minutes. Shake and dry the dill and parsley. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the greens do not start to fade. After it is thoroughly crushed.

Attention! Freshly picked parsley and dill are suitable for freezing Bulgarian peppers. It is such greens that have the brightest and most intense aroma, and also contain a large amount of useful vitamins and minerals.

Bulgarian peppers are freed from seeds, the stalks are cut off and cut in the necessary way (rings, cubes or strips). Further, greens and peppers are laid out separately on different trays and frozen in the freezer for a day. Previously, the ingredients are covered with cling film.

At the end of the preparation, the frozen peppers and herbs are mixed, packaged in pre-prepared containers or bags and sent for final freezing.

Temperature for freezing peppers and shelf life

In order for frozen peppers to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins and useful microelements, the freezing temperature should not exceed -18 - - 20 degrees Celsius. If the temperature rises, the product will be stored for a shorter amount of time.

Storage periods differ depending on the type of frozen product:

Fresh frozen peppers can be stored for up to 12 months.
Baked or blanched vegetables can be stored for up to 6 months.
Stuffed peppers can be stored for up to 7 months.

Attention! Before freezing, containers and packages with vegetables are labeled. Indicate the approximate shelf life and date of freezing.

Is it permissible to re-freeze the product

Re-freezing the product will not spoil the bell peppers, but will worsen the taste of the product, as well as negatively affect the amount of useful vitamins and microelements. In addition, such a product will lose its attractive appearance. To avoid this, re-freezing the bell peppers is undesirable.

How to properly defrost frozen peppers

Correct defrosting of Bulgarian peppers is as follows:

The vegetables, frozen in their entirety, are left in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes, then defrost in the microwave for 5 minutes under the selected mode. An alternative way to defrost peppers is to leave them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes after the refrigerator.
Chopped chopped vegetables are placed in the microwave for 5 minutes, defrosting, and added to soups or stews.

Freezing bell peppers is a great way to preserve the beneficial properties of the product for a long time with a minimum expenditure of time and effort.

In order for the vegetable to retain its original appearance and taste, it is necessary to follow certain recommendations for the choice, method of freezing and storing peppers.

Frozen vegetables for the winter are a great way to provide yourself with vitamins for the whole year. The main thing is that there is enough space in the freezer. You can freeze bell peppers for the winter at home in different ways, whole or in pieces. It all depends on how you plan to use it.

Can bell peppers be frozen?

Of course! It is possible and even necessary! Frozen vegetables retain a maximum of vitamins and other nutrients. And pepper is no exception.

The main problem is that our freezers, alas, are not dimensionless. And pepper, especially if you freeze it whole, takes up a lot of space in it. There are, however, techniques and ways to arrange it quite economically.

Which pepper to freeze and how to prepare it?

You can freeze any pepper: red, yellow, green. But it is better to choose fleshy specimens with thick walls.

Peppers should be of high quality, intact, strong, without traces of bruising and, moreover, rot. We must try to freeze the freshest specimens: the less time passes from removal from the bush to freezing, the tastier the workpiece will be, there will be more nutrients in it.

Before freezing, the peppers must be washed, the stalks and seeds must be removed.

How to properly freeze bell peppers for the winter?

Peppers can be frozen whole, cut into cubes or long strips, and grated. How you freeze it depends on how you intend to use it. It should also be taken into account that whole peppers take up much more space in the freezer than cut into pieces.

Wholly

From the pepper, carefully cut off the upper part with the stalk, remove all the seeds, being careful not to damage the walls.
Place on a suitable tray so that the peppers do not touch each other.
Send it to the freezer for a couple of hours. Better in the blast chiller.
In two hours, the peppers will "grab". Get them out quickly so that they don't have time to defrost, put them in plastic bags or containers and put them in the freezer for permanent storage.

It is best to put the peppers in a "locomotive", partially enclosing each other. As you can see in the photo. This will take up much less space in the freezer. You can initially freeze them in this way, but then you need to put plastic bags between the peppers so that they do not freeze to each other. For storage in this way, it is worth picking up peppers of different sizes so that they fit into each other as well as possible.

In pieces

Remove stalks and seeds. The easiest way to do this is to cut the peppers in half.
Cut the peppers into strips or cubes: whatever is more convenient for you for future use.
Arrange on a pallet in one layer, try to distribute the pieces so that they do not touch each other.
Place in the freezer, preferably in the blast chiller, for 2 hours.
When the peppers "seize", transfer them to containers or bags, send them to the freezer for storage.

Puree

Remove stalks and seeds from peppers.
Grate (coarse or fine - depending on how you plan to use them) or mince.
Divide the resulting mass into small containers so that the entire contents of the container can be used at one time.
Send to the freezer.

How to store frozen bell peppers?

In the freezer, of course. At a temperature of -18 degrees, he calmly lasts until a new harvest. If your freezer cannot provide such a low temperature, then it is better to use pepper within 3-4 months, maximum six months from the moment of freezing.

Under no circumstances should you re-freeze bell peppers. As, however, and any other frozen food.

What to cook with frozen bell peppers?

Everything is the same as from fresh. Whole frozen peppers are most often stuffed. And sliced is used to prepare a variety of dishes: salads, soups, vegetable stews and many others.

Do peppers need to be thawed before cooking?

In most cases, this is not necessary at all.

Defrost peppers if:

you are going to cook a dish from it that does not require heat treatment, for example, a salad;
pepper must be additionally chopped during cooking, for example, passed through a meat grinder;
the peppers are frozen to each other, and there is no way to separate them neatly.

In all other cases, defrosting can be dispensed with. For example, stuffing peppers frozen is even more convenient. It is also easier to put them in soup, stews and other hot dishes directly from the freezer.