canning roasted red peppers?

[redsintoronto]

Hi

this will be my first year of canning this fabulous vegetable. Any tips as I have never canned before?

Thanks

[koan]

Personally, I find it much easier to freeze roasted peppers...

[lvsnyder]

Can you freeze sauteed peppers too? I have a ton of frying peppers right now. I'll saute them but I'm not sure I can eat them all before they go bad.

[Zeldog]

Yes, but they'll be rather mushy when you defrost them. You could still use them in sauces, curries and such where texture is not important.

[alanbarnes]

You need to pressure-can them. Home-canned peppers processed in a boiling water bath are notorious for causing botulism. You might get lucky, but we're talking about the deadliest microbial toxin known to man - you might get dead.

[Zeldog]

Notorious peppers? According to the CDC there are about 2 dozen cases of food borne botulism in the US per year, and they don't report how many of those cases are due to home canning vs commercial products or undercooked food left in the fridge too long. No word on how many cases were due to peppers:

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disea...

That said, nobody wants to be one of next year's two dozen, so if you don't have pressure canner, up the acid level with lemon juice or citric acid, which will not change the taste much, or vinegar if you like your peppers pickled. I just guess and add the juice of 1/2 lemon to each jar, but if you want to be sure, get some pH test strips and make sure the pH is around 3. And don't short the boiling time.

[alanbarnes]

Botulism is rare these days due to widely-available info from the CDC, local ag extensions, companies that make canning products, and other sources. That's a good thing.

Acidifying the peppers will make them safe with a good boiling-water bath, but with a pH of 3 they're pretty sour. Pressure-canning and freezing have always been my preferred options.

[CannerBob]

First cut out the innerds, Quarter the red peppers, blister the skins so they can be peeled. (many recipies say to blister them whole but I find that too messy), put them in a paper bag for 15-20 min. now comes the hard part remove the skins.... when skins are removed pack them tightly into Jars. Fill with boiling water, put the sterilized lid on the Jars. put the jars into a hot water bath for 20 min. tightly seal the lids and cool. (note.... most recipies call for a pressure cooker, it is probably safer, but I only make enough for about 9-12 Months, I have never had a problem.. After doing alo of reading on the canning process I have found that adding Oil instead of water is not good because Oil holds the bacteris in and stops the breathing of the peppers.