I always plant a variety of peppers in the garden each year. My garden was kind of wonky this year as a lot of my seedlings didn’t make it. However, I did get a couple of jalapeno plants, a couple of sweet bell pepper plants and some other pepper plants.
As Summer disappeared and Fall was creeping in, I picked all the peppers off the plants – sweet bells, jalapenos, and some other ones which honestly I don’t remember what kind and the label name wore off. They are either a chili (but they don’t smell hot-and yes, hot peppers smell hot to me) or some other sweet pepper.
The sweet bell peppers got chopped up and frozen in vacuum sealed baggies to use whenever a recipe calls for peppers. It is nice to have them all ready to go.
A word of caution: Be careful with hot peppers. The seeds and membranes are filled with capsacin – the “heat” part of the plant. Get that on your fingers (or other parts of your body) and you will be in pain. It is best to wear gloves when dealing with hot peppers. Although jalapenos are not real hot, they can be and one should proceed with caution when handling them.
Some of the jalapenos were made into bacon wrapped poppers. They were so good! They are very simple to make. Slice the peppers in half lengthwise. Scrape out their seeds and ribs. Remember to use those gloves! Mix together 1-8 ounce package of cream cheese, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, ½ teaspoon each onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and spoon into pepper halves. Cut each slice of bacon in half and wrap one half around each pepper half. Secure with a toothpick if necessary. Place the stuffed peppers on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees. Oh and put some foil on that baking sheet so your pans don’t absorb the heat from the peppers and all your subsequent baked goods taste like peppers. Spoken from experience. These are delicious hot from the oven, dipped in ranch dressing or whatever other dip you may prefer.
While I tried to figure out what to do with the rest of the peppers, they sat on the counter for a while. They were a little too wrinkly to put in the freezer so I opted to dry them. Out came a needle and thread. I ran the thread through the stem of each pepper and then tied the string of peppers into a loop. They are hanging in my kitchen slowly drying out. I think they look cute and a little festive with all their color.
When they are totally dry, my plan is to grind them up and have pepper powder to use in stews and soups, etc. I look forward to their flavor explosion.
How was your pepper harvest this year?