The Virtues of Frozen Jalapeno Peppers
We talk alot about jalapeno peppers in the Madness household, and preserving jalapeno peppers is not only one of the biggest topics, but one of the most visited areas of the web site. We enjoy growing chili peppers of all types, but in any given season, it’s difficult to consume all of those chili peppers as we harvest them. We’re only two people, you know. We cook meal for family and friends and give some away, but we also know that we’ll need chili peppers throughout the winter, so we preserve them, and there are so many ways to preserve your chili peppers.
One of the simplest ways to preserve your peppers is freezing them. If you’re interested in the complicated dynamics of freezing jalapeno peppers, you can learn how to do so here. But seriously, freezing chili peppers is extremely easy. One of the questions I get, though, is if frozen jalapeno peppers and chili peppers can be used the same as fresh chili peppers? The straight answer is NO, frozen chili peppers will never take the place of fresh chili peppers. Fresh chili peppers are by far the superior food, but that doesn’t mean frozen peppers are bad in any way.
Frozen chili peppers will sustain you through the winter and times when you can’t find any fresh peppers. If you’re a gardener like me, you don’t want your harvest to go to waste. We recently snatched five jalapeno peppers from our freezer, thawed them out, chopped them up and sprinkled them over a bowl of homemade Madness Nachos. Check out the results.
Frozen Jalapeno Peppers
We’re saying frozen jalapenos work for us. Let’s talk about taste. Yes, your frozen jalapeno peppers will not have the same texture as fresh jalapenos, which have a wonderful crunch. Frozen jalapenos, when they are thawed, will be softer. When you cut them, they might remind you of the texture of pickled jalapeno peppers. The difference is that you won’t have the pickled flavor. Still, as you can tell by the photo, the peppers retain the color and vitality of fresh jalapenos, and much of taste and heat of fresh jalapenos.
Sprinkling thawed jalapeno peppers over nachos is, in all honesty, a simplistic use of your preserved jalapeno peppers. We mostly use them as a major base for cooking up soups, stew, chilis and multiple crock pot recipes, but I felt it was important to show that your frozen jalapeno peppers can serve you in those times when decadence overtakes you and you simply need jalapenos as a spicy and welcomed garnish to something like nachos with extra cheese. Enjoy!
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