These are just some of the jalapenos that only two plants in our garden produced this year. The rest have been shared with friends and family, frozen for winter’s use in chili, chopped in salsas this summer, or stuffed with sausage or pimento cheese and gingerly devoured.
These suckers were hot!
Was it the very hot summer we had that made these peppers so much spicier than last year? The variety of plant? Something different in the garden soil? I really don’t know, but the ones we’ve picked since the nights have cooled off have been much more tolerable than the ones produced in August. I also noticed that production dwindled during the hot months and picked back up noticeably when the heat broke.
To freeze jalapenos, I usually cut off the stem, slice them in half, scrape the seeds and membranes, and freeze them in freezer bags. Later I can pull them from the freezer ready to use for stuffing and baking or chopping for chili and salsa.
I tried this method several times throughout the summer which resulted in coughing and choking and eyes tearing like day-long crying jag. I left several of the latter crop ripening on the vine because - I’ll admit it! - I was scared. This last batch I just washed and bagged whole. We’ll see how that turns out.
Oh my gosh Robyn! So happy to see your blog! I had no idea! Can't wait to go back and read other posts! Wahooooo!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I went through a jalapeno/cream cheese/bacon fetish. I sliced a jalapeno lengthwise. Scraped out the seeds. Filled it with cream cheese. Wrapped a 1/3 of a slice of bacon around it and baked it. They were to die for!