I decided to freeze some of the peppers this morning that I got from Mr. Produce Guy this week.  I like to freeze them both sliced and diced {mostly because slicing and dicing rhymes, but also for the convenience, ha.}.  They are awesome to have on hand in the winter, when you only need a bit for a recipe.  I like having the option of pulling out only what I need for stir-fries, soups, and omelets.

Here’s the 411 on how to freeze them:

You’ll need:

• Knife
• Cutting board
• Pot {for blanching}
• A bowl of ice water
• freezer bags
• cookie sheet

Directions:

1. Start a pot of boiling water for blanching*
2. Wash and dry your peppers.
3. Slice them in half and de-seed them completely.
4. Now cut them however you prefer {sliced, diced, etc.}.
5. Place them in a pot of boiling water{2 minutes for slices, 1 minute for diced} and then plunge them into the ice water bath.
6. Lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them.
7. Transfer frozen peppers to labeled and dated freezer bags.  {They are best when used within 6 months, but they’ll keep longer.}

*If you are not going to cook the peppers, you can skip the blanching step, because they will lose their crispiness during blanching.  I cook with mine, so I blanched them to preserve their color.

Want to know how to freeze just about anything?  Check out my handy dandy how-to chart HERE.

The Complete Guide to Food Preservation