[MAK]

I have quite a few pepper plants. some I grew from seed I colected from a shop bought yellow pepper and some from a "mixed packet" of bought seed.
I have god sixed bell peppers and long thin ones.
BUT - Do all peppers start green, turn yellow then red ( like a traffic light) or do some just stay on amber  
Also - can I freeze chunks of them without blanching as time is against me.

[darkbrowneggs]

Most peppers seem to turn colour as they ripen, though its difficult to get them to colour nicely in the UK


I have frozen them without blanching - in fact I used to freeze all my veg without blanching and it was fine.  Never as good as fresh, but that's just the way it is. 


If you do have time you can pour some oil over them and a bit of seasoning and cook on a low heat till soft.  That means they take up far less space and its not all that time consuming if you have a cooker with a bottom oven like an Aga and it takes any bitterness away if they are not completely ripe. 

[MAK]

thanks - I may well try grilling some and then preserving in oil.

[darkbrowneggs]

I used to just cook mine down, then freeze them in plastic boxes ready for adding to cooking when needed 

[HesterF]

Think they all go through to red although I had some in Switzerland that seemed to skip straight from green to stripy, to red without going through pure yellow or orange first so maybe it was variety dependent. That didn't help much, did it?

Mine are leaving it really, really late - they're still tiny. Got one decent sized chilli out of about twenty pepper and chilli plants so far. Aubergines are yet to produce a single fruit that I can see. So much for me starting them early!

Preserving in oil is a very Italian way to do it but just be careful about the hygiene - I tried it when I had a big batch of peppers and didn't get it quite right so they started to disintegrate in the oil and I wasn't sure about eating them after that.

H

[MAK]

Thanks Hester - I agree that colour change may be variety dependent. I will report back how ours turn out. They are quite big already with many more smaller fruits and flowers.
Aubergines are looking good and I may try one this week.

can you expand on the preserving under oil hazzards? I would hate to loose any.

[Lesley Silvester]

I've never managed to grow decent peppers. I wish I could.

[HesterF]

I can't remember the details. I think it was quite hard to fully sterilise everything - I roasted the peppers and sterilised the jar and lid but I couldn't work out how to sterilise the olive oil - was worried about heating it too much. Anyhow, I packed the jars, poured on the oil and sealed. But then I was worried about it (and not sure the seal was great - certainly proved to be less than airtight since) so I put it in the fridge for storing. After a couple of months the peppers started to look a bit mushy and the oil didn't look so clear. I didn't want to risk it after that. I'm sure there must be a way since it's such a staple in so many store cupboards.

H

[mwncigirl]

Unfortunately I can't add much to this discussion, except to say, my peppers have blight   

[MAK]

I read an US "under oil" receipe that said do not wash them and remove all the seeds and soft white bits. BUT then it did not mention olive oil but cider vinegar !
i think that I will just wing it as I have plenty to experiment with.