Chillies

[sincerity]

On 'Beechgrove Garden', the presenter said that chillies could simply be placed ( whole ) in a freezer bag and put straight into a freezer. I have never known anyone who has tried this, most people dry them or preserve them in an oil. Anybody frozen chillies successfully? I may derive some pleasure from watching them suffer the ice treatment after the agony they inflicted on my hands following a chopping session. I have grown chillies in the past, but they were not so 'feisty'. This year's scotch bonnet crop was excellent, but I didn't realise how bad the burning would be from their preparation. Initially, my hands felt quite comfortable, a comforting, warming glow - then, shortly after, pain; making me feel quite nauseous. I found a remedy on the internet when I could take no more. I rubbed lemon and then salt and oil into my hands. Since, I have used gloves and oil on my hands before prepping. Why don't TV chefs warn viewers how bad the burning can get. The internet is full of stories of desperate people who have had similar agonising experiences.

[alan refail]

Anybody frozen chillies successfully?

Yes, Colin has.

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[peter]

Could be worse, I read a first hand account where the young man had prepared an intimate dinner for two, which "ahem" worked well, but later on his young lady wished he'd worn gloves to prepare the chillis.

[Redfox]

I froze my chillies whole last year, worked really well. washed and dried them and then froze them individually, laid flat in a bag. Just took them out and chopped them when I needed them. Have also made chillie jam in the past, but there's always alot of pepper in the air and it gets on the back of my throat,

[Primrose]

I've successfully frozen whole chillies for several years - just put them in a ziplock sealed bag. They keep well for up to two years. I've also tried drying them in a brown paper bag in the airing cupboard & then storing in a sealed jar but they lose their colour this way.

Because of lack of freezer space, we now convert some of our chillies into a chilli sauce and just put a teapoon of it into whatever sauce we want to spice up. This is a convenient way of adding some heat to a dish without risking any of the burning qualities which they can cause to your skin. Think I posted a recipe for this in the recipe section a while back.

[Bren]

Do you take the seeds out of the chillies before freezing them ? or leave them in and take them out before cooking them.

bren

[Primrose]

We always remove the seeds but I think some people leave them in. I believe this adds to the heat but never having tried it, can't vouch for this. But apart from tomatoes, I remove the seeds of everything when cooking things, i.e. I'd never leave in apple or pear pips/cores when stewing them down, so treat chillies in the same way.

[macmac]

'Been freezing them for years without problem.

[Smurfy]

I haven't been able to grow chillies for the last few years so have had to buy them from the supermarket. I put the whole bag in the freezer seeds plastic and all. Just take the one i want out and cut it up when i need it. They defrost really quickly and don't lose any flavour as far as i can tell.

[Colin_M]

Do you take the seeds out of the chillies before freezing them ? or leave them in and take them out before cooking them.

Life's too short!
Freeze them whole - Job done.

[Tigger]

We freeze them whole, or chopped into ice cubes. Best use are those made into chilli jam and chilli jelly.