So, I have never been a "pepper" connoisseur before. I had eaten them-mostly green-in salads, spaghetti sauces and on party platters covered in dressing~lots of dressing. Never did I appreciate the taste explosion in these little delights. And they are SO easy to prepare for dehydration. Simply wash them, slice them, remove seeds and stem after slicing, and place them on the trays. There is no need to pre- treat. If you wanted to, you could dice them at this stage, but we just leave them alone. Put them into the dehydrator for about 12 hours. Of course you want to check with your own eyes to determine doneness. Always remember that you can NEVER dehydrate food for too long, but you can ruin all of your hard work if you take it out too early. Go with the longer~the better mentality and you will be successful every time!
A fun fact to throw out to you is that the color of the pepper is determined as to when it was picked. Peppers start out their lives as green and the longer they are left on the plant, the more they transform; from green to yellow to orange to red to a brown/purple color. As they go through this beautiful dance with the rainbow, their natural sugar content is increased. Choose whatever you fancy. We do all of the colors we can find and mix them together, simply for the visual appeal.
I have to say that we never ate peppers on a weekly basis. Now, we do. I am treated (every weekend) to a most delicious omelet brunch. When the peppers (and other veggies we will get to) are re hydrated and cooked, they are better than anything in the world. They maintain a crispy, sweet, pop when you bite down and the taste explosion...well, try it and you'll see!
Other wonderful health benefits of this vegetable are found at the link below. Check it out!
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-nutrition-of-bell-peppers.html#b
As for packaging, there are a million ways in which to preserve all of your hard work. That will be a blog all by itself some day. For us, we have a system. Use it and store it. We don't have our percentages worked out quite yet, but we are working on 1/3 use and 2/3 long term storage. Below is a picture of one of our packages of dehydrated peppers ready to go to long term storage land. We have a Food Saver and we vacuum and seal them adding one100cc oxygen absorber to the package.
I am looking so forward to planting my pepper heirloom seeds so I can grow and dehydrate my very own rainbow. Give it a try-I think you will be happy that you did!
I have to say that we never ate peppers on a weekly basis. Now, we do. I am treated (every weekend) to a most delicious omelet brunch. When the peppers (and other veggies we will get to) are re hydrated and cooked, they are better than anything in the world. They maintain a crispy, sweet, pop when you bite down and the taste explosion...well, try it and you'll see!
Other wonderful health benefits of this vegetable are found at the link below. Check it out!
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-nutrition-of-bell-peppers.html#b
As for packaging, there are a million ways in which to preserve all of your hard work. That will be a blog all by itself some day. For us, we have a system. Use it and store it. We don't have our percentages worked out quite yet, but we are working on 1/3 use and 2/3 long term storage. Below is a picture of one of our packages of dehydrated peppers ready to go to long term storage land. We have a Food Saver and we vacuum and seal them adding one100cc oxygen absorber to the package.
I am looking so forward to planting my pepper heirloom seeds so I can grow and dehydrate my very own rainbow. Give it a try-I think you will be happy that you did!
Why the need for the oxygen absorber and where do you get it?
ReplyDeleteWhen you get your pepper crop this year I have delicious recipe for a terrific pepper appetizer
from the turn of the century - 1900's.
What Food Saver model do you use. I've been trying to decide which one would be best.
The oxygen absorber gets rid of the residual oxygen left in the vacuum sealed bag. It is just an extra layer of protection. Then, when we prepare our 5 gallon buckets for long term storage, we also add 1500cc oxygen absorbers and a desiccant to the mylar bags before we seal those up.
ReplyDeleteThey are available on Amazon.
Looking forward to the recipe! Can you post it on here?
The Food Saver we have is a V2480. It is their standard vertical model.
Hope I answered your questions! So glad you asked...
This recipe is from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Signora Bimbi was the mistress of an olive estate (in the early 1900's) in the Puglia countryside where Lynne stayed.
ReplyDeleteSignora Bimbi's Peppers
2 each sweet yellow and red peppers
8 herbed or oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped
1 T red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 t extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced
3 T fresh bread crumbs
1 tightly packed t each fresh Italian parsley and basil leaves, chopped.
1. Roast peppers until they blister. Place in paper bag and rest about 30 minutes.
2. Slip skin off pepper, remove cores and scoop away seeds. Cut peppers into wedges 3" long and 1 1/2" wide. Toss with olives and vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and hold at room temperature for several hours.
3. In small skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, bread crumbs and a little salt and pepper. Stirring constantly, toast crumbs until golden, about 3 minutes. Immediately turn into a bowl. At this point, you can hold the peppers and crumbs separately for several hours. Don't combine until just before serving so the bread crumbs are crisp.
4. To serve, arrange peppers on platter and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing!!! It is on my list...
Delete