Jalapeno chiles

[JamezF]

Harvested the last of our jalapenos today, having left them on the plants as long as I dare to try to get as many as possible to turn red despite the lack of sun this summer (still not that many, sadly). They weigh in at around a smidge under 4kg, most of which will probably be pickled for later use in fajitas and on home-made pizzas.

Are there other interesting ways to preserve them? There's only so many I can stuff with cheese and roast before I start needing a more capacious bee suit

James

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Chilli Oil
Chilli Jam
Curry pastes which can then be frozen

actually I presume you can just freeze them anyway?

 

[mexbigshow]

i had loads this year so i left some to dry in the food cupboard then flaked em into spice or herb jars and i pickled the rest i only thought to pickle them because i had a shish kebab and it came with 1 whole pickled chilli

 

[JamezF]

Chile jam is an interesting idea. I shall investigate recipes. I have a fair number of "bird-eye" chiles still to harvest that I intend to make chile oil with (and cayennes, that I plan to dry and flake).

In my experience when they're frozen they tend to go mushy, perhaps because it's not easy to home-freeze them fast enough to stop large ice-crystals developing in the flesh.
I have a similar (if not worse) problem with sweet peppers as we tend to have a glut of them around late September/October and I've yet to find a good way to preserve them.

James

 

[Hivemaker.]

You could also preserve them in kilner jars,or some other methods below.

http://www.jalapenomadness.com/preserve_jalapenos.html

 

[RoofTops]

I too have a glut of chillies and you will find quite a lot of ideas on the internet on ways to preserve them.

I am drying some at the moment (in my honey warming cabinet - with a small gap to allow the air to change). A traditional way to dry them is to string them up on a bit of thread, passed through the stalk and hang them in a warm place.

You can also dry them in a warm oven, again with the door slightly open, but burning is a risk.

You can also freeze them. The method is to slit them lengthways and remove the seeds (which apparently are more bitter after freezing) and then open freeze them on a tray before putting in a bag.

Jalapenos are quite big so freezing might be easier than drying.

I have also come across chilli honey but it seems to be made with a chilli essence rather than actual bits of chilli, but I suppose you could add chillis to some runny honey and leave it - like making chilli oil.

 

[VEG]

I made chilli jam on the weekend sold the lot in work got to make more now

 

[luckydunny]

Add to pickled eggs, olives, (just place in jar), pickled onions, shallow fry in tampura batter - but do not serve with chilli oil, just make chilli oil and add herbs, bottle - give as presents.
Only a snapshot of what we have done but as other people have posted the internet is obviously a hot sauce of ideas!!!

 

[sss]

Last year we made chilli jam and that went quite quickly.

This year we had a glut of apples as well so made chilli and apple jam. That is going rapidly.

We also freeze them and last year they last over 11+ months.