Preserving Sweet Bell Peppers

The markets and our gardens are now filled with beautiful sweet bell peppers. While theyre readily available in such quantity, take a few minutes to preserve some for cold weather use.

My favorite way to preserve sweet bell peppers is to freeze them. Heres how easy it is to do that:

If you want bell pepper strips: Select peppers that have firm flesh and are free of wrinkled skins. Wash and dry them. NOTE: Do not blanch the peppers. Remove the stems and seeds as well as any blemished and/or soft spots. Slice the peppers into strips that are 1/2 inch wide. Line a baking sheet with no-stick foil or parchment paper. Lay the pepper strips on the baking sheet and put the baking sheet in the freezer overnight. In the morning, remove the individually frozen bell pepper strips and place them in a freezer safe container for future use. You can then take as few or as many as you want since theyre not all frozen together in one lump in the container.

If you want diced bell peppers: Select peppers that have firm flesh and are free of wrinkled skins. Wash and dry them. NOTE: Do not blanch the peppers. Remove the stems and seeds as well as any blemished and/or soft spots. Rough chop the peppers and place them in a food processor. Gently pulse the peppers until they are chopped to your desired size, drain off the liquid and discard it, and place tablespoons of the diced peppers in the individual compartments of ice cube trays. Cover the trays with freezer safe wrap and place them in the freezer overnight. In the morning, pop the pepper cubes out of the ice cube tray and place them in a freezer safe container for future use.

via Going Local: Preserving Sweet Bell Peppers.