We're loving the hot peppers in our stir-fry's: does anyone have a good method for preserving them, so we can use them in the winter months?

To everyone - does this apply to roasted poblano peppers?

A hot pepper farmer-vendor said the way he does it is he justs chop them up and freezes them and that works best for him- easy and the flavor you're after is preserved.

Thank you everyone! I think I have enough methods to try now and will report back which is simplest.

Since we don't have room right now to put a cookie sheet in the freezer, I will start with the roasting method. We were recently in Colorado where we bought fresh-from-the-field roasted habaneros, so I have the visual cues and recent memory to start from.

http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/fntr2/mf1186.pdf

Hope this information helps you with your peppers

Spreading them on a cookie sheet, as wssmom suggests, makes it easy to take just a few pieces out of a bag, if that's all you need. Otherwise they tend to stick together. I lightly oil the cookie sheet, also, so they don't stick there.

Even simpler -- I just put the peppers in the freezer and deal with the stems and seeds as I use them. They are easy to work with straight from the freezer.

I vote with wssmom. This technique is utterly simple and works beautifully. There is no need to thaw the peppers before using, either.

Thank you for your replies (so far, curious to hear more ideas).

Quick question for boulangere: what purpose does the step of putting them in a plastic bag for 15 minutes- does it make them "sweat" more so the skins peel off more easily?

Thank you!

Use a needle and some thick thread. Go through the top of pepper..tie off a knot..repeat.
Then hang them up on the ceiling to dry so you have festoons of peppers drying the kitchen.

Oven roast them at about 375 degrees.

For many years, whenever I find a bounty of them in, we split them, remove the seeks and pith, toss them in olive oil with some s & p, arrange them skin side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment, and roast them in the oven until dark. From there into large plastic bags for 15 minutes or or, then peel off the skins, bag and freeze. They're ready to chop up and toss into anything at that point.

What I have done is cut them in half; stem and seed them, then spread them on a cookie tray and put them in the freezer for an hour or so. Afterward, I store them either in vacuum sealed bags or ziplock bags in the freezer.