Old School – Self Reliance 101

• 
• Tweet
• Sharebar

• 
• Tweet

Today’s lesson is easy as kindergarten.

If you have a lot of peppers in your garden, or even have an extra you bought at the store, you can freeze them as easy as pepper pie. The Damsel wondered if this basket might be a “peck” of unpickled peppers.

A little research reveals:

   peck (pk)
   a traditional unit of volume, formerly used for both liquids
   and solids but now used mostly for dry commodities such as
   grains, berries, and fruits. A peck is 2 gallons, 8 quarts,
   or 1/4 bushel. In the U. S. customary system, a peck holds
   537.605 cubic inches or approximately 8.8098 liters. In the
   British imperial system, a peck is a little larger, holding
   554.84 cubic inches or approximately 9.0923 liters. The word
   "peck", originally spelled "pek", comes from the name of a
   similar old French unit; the origin of the French unit is
   not known.

The Damsel does not want to measure the cubic inches of her basket. The Damsel is afraid of math. But eyeballing the basket–it’s probably close to 1/4 bushel. So there you go. A peck of peppers.

Ahem. Back to the freezing project.

Cut ‘em in half and pull out the seed thingy with your fingers under running water.

Slice lengthwise and then across to create a dice. You can cut them anyway you like, really, but the Damsel does this because pretty much anytime she uses peppers, she cuts them small. There’s Bigpepperpiecesphobia at the Damsel’s cottage.

At this point you can freeze the peppers in whatever way seemeth you best. The Damsel likes to “flash freeze” the peppers first. Here’s the reason: if you put the peppers in a freezer bag/container/whatever now, they will freeze together into a lump, and you’ll have to thaw them before use. If you “flash freeze” them first, the pieces will remain individual, like little bits of green glass, and you can pour out just what you need. The Damsel put a silicone mat inside a cookie sheet and spread the chopped peppers out in a single layer, then popped it into the freezer as is, uncovered. You don’t need the mat, but after they’ve frozen, it’s simplicity itself to pull the mat up by the corners and pour the peppers into a freezer container. The Damsel let them freeze about two hours before making the transfer.

Because she is an overachiever she even did red bell peppers.

You can do any type of peppers this way. Think how easy it will be to reach inside one of these bags for a handful to sprinkle on an omelet or what-have-you.