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Ripening Peppers

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Sonja W

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Ripening Peppers

by Sonja W » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:17 pm

Is it possible to ripen picked green peppers to red?

Every summer I buy a lot of red peppers while they're comparatively cheap, roast them, then freeze them with a few garlic cloves and olive oil to cover.

A friend told me that she buys green peppers and lets them ripen before doing the same. I didn't know this was possible. If it is, I'd be thrilled.
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GaryF

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by GaryF » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:06 pm

In my experience peppers tend to rot rather than ripen. I believe they need the sun to change pigment.
Thanks you Sonya for answering a question I've been meaning to post. I was wondering if roasted peppers would freeze well- now I know.
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Sonja W

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by Sonja W » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:14 pm

Gary,

They do freeze well, as long as they're submerged in olive oil. I fill a number of small containers of them every summer to last for the year. The resulting oil is also very nice as an added flavor to other dishes.
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by TanyaD » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:31 am

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you have to keep them on the vine to get them to turn red. I had one red pepper plant this year and 8 green, and since the red pepper plant only gave me 3 puny peppers, I let several of my green ones turn red. But maybe there's some other trick I don't know about.
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Deb Hall

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by Deb Hall » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:39 am

Sonja,

I also don't believe they will change color out of the sun. Tomatoes will though.

For what you are doing it's worth a trip to your local Farmer's market tommorrow. I've been picking up red peppers and yellow peppers at Bearcreek Christian Market for .50 to $.75 each at the market and basically doing the same thing. Some for less if they are less than perfect.

But hadn't thought to freeze the roasted peppers; great idea. I've been doing the same with roasted plum/cherries tomatoes for the past several week. I get 5 lbs at the market, halve them, drizzle with olive oil and chopped garlic, and herbs if desired, sprinkle with kosher salt and them slow roast/dry them for 1 1/2 hours at 275 degrees. Great "sundried" tomatoes! If I'm freezing them, I cover with a thin layer of oil like your tomatoes.

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Steve Cecil

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by Steve Cecil » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:04 pm

I've had all sorts of peppers finish turning colors after being picked, but they had to be more advanced than green (or whatever the base color is) before being brought inside.

They will shrink and start to dry out within days, so getting a yellow banana pepper to turn red results in 3/4 to 1/2 size wrinkled peppers. Same with yellow and red bells that haven't finished up, but are not entirely green anymore. You also risk the problem of mold from keeping them out of the fridge.

Store-bought is another matter entirely - I doubt they would change before rotting away.
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Sonja W

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by Sonja W » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:14 pm

Deb wrote:
"I've been doing the same with roasted plum/cherries tomatoes for the past several week. I get 5 lbs at the market, halve them, drizzle with olive oil and chopped garlic, and herbs if desired, sprinkle with kosher salt and them slow roast/dry them for 1 1/2 hours at 275 degrees. Great "sundried" tomatoes! If I'm freezing them, I cover with a thin layer of oil like your tomatoes."

What a great idea! I read something similar in the NYT recently about what to do with the last of the summer tomatoes. I look forward to trying this next year.

There were very few red peppers left at the Bardstown Road farmers market today. I arrived at 10:30 and scored the last ten or so. They look a lot more fresh and flavorful than the shrink-wrapped waxy ones I saw later at Costco.
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Deb Hall

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by Deb Hall » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:16 am

Sonja,

Re: the farmers market peppers- they'll be a lot more flavorful when you roast them.

If you get a chance to pick up some Roma tomatoes (farmers market only) try the dried tomatoes- they are really outstanding! I used them last night in a Cooking Light dried tomato and Kalamata olive tapenade ; it was REAlly good, and easy when you've got those tomatoes on hand.

Deb

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