All the things I did with chiles/peppers this year

From Out of the frying pan . . . by Patrick Barber

November 3, 2009

I explored a variety of preservation methods for chiles this year. I didn’t set out to do this, but once I got started, I guess I got a little obsessed. Here are all the things I did with chiles and sweet peppers.

-- I got about 30 pounds of New Mexico-type green chiles from Westwind Gardens at the PSU Farmers Market. They roast the chiles at the market in a gas-fired rotating drum roaster. These chiles speak to my childhood flavor memories. I make them into a traditional New Mexico-style preparation, also called green chile. We freeze a lot every year. We buy them freshly roasted, then peel/seed/chop and freeze. For a lot more about green chile/s, including a recipe, see my recent post on my blog, Letter from Hen Waller.

-- Gathering Together Farm has these wonderful fleshy pimiento peppers. I have roasted/peeled/seeded a bunch. Some of which I packed in oil and vinegar and am keeping in the fridge. Some of which I am freezing.

-- I decided to freeze a stash of jalapeños and serranos to see if I could put up enough to last through the winter/spring. I halved and seeded them and froze them raw like berries (on a sheet, then in a jar). Since I’ll be mincing them and adding them to curries or whatever, I think they’ll be OK like that. I picked up this idea from an article in Saveur about chile peppers.

-- I made two kinds of pickled serranos: an Indian-style oil pickle (recipe here) and a Mexican-style serranos en escabeche. Both are really good. The escabeche is searingly hot and tangy. The Indian pickle is considerably milder for some reason.