How to freeze whole bell pepper for the winter whole and in cubes: we make preparations for soups and stews, prepare semi-finished products for stuffing

Sweet pepper frozen in cubes, whole fruits or halves is a convenient preparation for the winter for preparing soups, stews, stewed vegetables and meat in a pot. For the workpiece, ripe, non-cracked pods with thick walls, without spots and damage, are suitable. Only such fruits differ in excellent taste even after freezing and thawing.

Useful properties and composition of the vegetable

Bell pepper is not only a bright, aromatic and tasty vegetable, but also healthy. Even in frozen form, it retains most of the vitamins, minerals. Pepper is rich in minerals such as sodium, iodine, calcium, selenium, potassium. Of the vitamins can be distinguished: riboflavin, vitamin A, ascorbic acid. Regular consumption of sweet fruits can protect the body from stress and depression, restore immunity, improve brain function. The composition and benefits of the product are described in more detail in the table.

Table - The content of nutrients in bell pepper and their effect on the body

The benefits of freezing

Knowing how to freeze bell pepper fresh for the winter, you can stock up on the cake mix almost until the next harvest. The green, red, or yellow slices removed from the freezer can then be used for frying, stewed in a pan, and boiled in meat soup. Mistresses distinguish the following pluses of freezing.

• Preservation of vitamins. When freezing, there is no heat treatment of vegetables, so valuable substances are preserved.
• Availability and cheapness of the method. Having grown a pepper crop in a garden, balcony or in a greenhouse, you can provide your family with blanks for the winter without much expense.
• Save cooking time. By freezing the peeled and sliced ​​fruits, you can speed up the process of cooking vegetable soup, stews or stuffed peppers by simply removing the semi-finished product from the freezer.
• Confidence in quality. Having prepared the peppers on their own, you can be sure that the product was frozen and thawed only once, and only fresh fruits went to cook.

Rules for fruit preparation

When thinking about how to freeze pepper for the winter, housewives usually choose from two available methods: freezing whole vegetables or cut into pieces (cubes, straws, quarters). The choice depends on the future uses of the semi-finished product:

• whole fruits - used for stuffing, filling with minced meat with rice and vegetables;
• cubes and slices- add when cooking in soups, stews, sauté and goulash, used for stewing, baking.

So that the freezing of sweet pepper for the winter is successful, vegetables are pre-selected, prepared. Adhere to the following principles.

• Selection by appearance. Dense, large fruits with green stalks are selected, discarding specimens with spots, cracks. Such pods will not lose shape when frozen due to thick walls, they will retain more vitamins.
• Removing internal parts. After rejection, the fruits are washed, the legs are removed, partitions are cut out. Seeds are thoroughly cleaned. It is better to do this with your fingers, and not with a knife, so as not to damage the walls.
• Elimination of excess moisture. After cleaning, peppers are washed again, then wiped with a paper towel, a piece of cloth, dried. It is important that there is not a drop of water left inside.
• Destination sorting. For freezing, they take whole elongated, cone-shaped fruits of medium size. Varieties of different colors are selected for stews, salads, sautés so that the finished dish turns out bright.

How to freeze pepper in a freezer for the winter in different ways

To freeze pepper at home, you only need a freezer and various containers: trays, bags, containers. To prevent the fruits from sticking to the pallet, they cover the bottom with a clean cotton cloth. All dishes should be dry, preferably hermetically sealed. Depending on the preferences of the household and the purpose of use, vegetables are harvested in the ways described in detail below.

Whole

Features It is not difficult to freeze whole peppers for the winter, even with a complete lack of culinary skills.Before use, the workpiece must be removed from the freezer, lowered for a couple of minutes in cold water. It is convenient to stuff such “glasses” with meat, then cooking according to the recipe familiar to the hostess.

Would need:

• bell peppers of the same size - any quantity;
• pure water;
• tight bags with ties or fasteners.

Technology

1. Prepare the required number of sweet peppers of any color.
2. Water is poured into a large pot, placed on the stove, and boiling is expected.
3. The washed and dried fruits without partitions and seeds are carefully placed in a pan, boil for about a minute.
4. Vegetables are taken out, turned onto a cloth, dried. The moisture inside the pods is removed with a paper towel.
5. Dry fruits are inserted into each other with a “train”, connecting five to seven pieces.
6. The blanks are placed in plastic bags, removing air from them to the maximum, and the fasteners are closed.
7. Placed in the freezer.

Cubes or stripes

Features Pepper frozen in slices of any shape takes up less space in the freezer and is used in various recipes. The procurement process takes approximately 48 hours. Store cubes or strips in a container, a special bag, just wrapped in cling film.

Would need:

• sweet bell pepper - 1 kg;
• bags or storage containers.

Technology

1. Pre-prepared fruits of any color, cut with a sharp knife into four to six parts.
2. Rinse off the juice, dry the slices.
3. Now cut each slice into thin strips or rings (for pizza), cubes (for borsch), rectangular bars (for stew).
4. Transfer the pieces into bags or suitable containers, send them to the freezer.
5. Every half hour, take out the container, shake it several times so that the cubes or slices do not freeze, do not turn into a lump. Perform the procedure until completely frozen.

With fresh herbs

Features You can cook frozen peppers even with herbs, for example, with parsley and dill. Such a workpiece will remain fragrant even after a long storage in the freezer. Greens should be taken fresh, just plucked from the garden.

Would need:

• bell pepper - 2 kg;
• dill - 150 g;
• parsley - 150 g.

Technology

1. Sort the greens, rinse, pour clean water in a bowl for five to ten minutes.
2. Drain, pour new, soak for another 15 minutes.
3. Remove the dill and parsley from the bowl, shake the bunches, slightly dry. Now chop with a knife.
4. Pre-prepared bell peppers cut into slices of any shape, as you like.
5. Take two pallets or a tray, cover with a cloth. On one thin layer, smooth the greens, on the other lay out pieces of pepper.
6. Freeze in the freezer for a day, periodically shaking pallets to avoid sticking.
7. Take out the trays, combine the greens and vegetables. Stir, pack in portioned packets, seal tightly.
8. Store in a freezer.

In the form of assorted stews

Features You can freeze not only peppers, but also other vegetables from the garden. It is much more convenient and faster to cook stew from such an assortment in winter. It remains only to add spices, a little water and salt to the pan to prepare a fragrant dish with vegetables. You can store the workpiece until the next harvest, tightly packing in containers.

Would need:

• bell pepper - eight fruits;
• young eggplant - three pieces;
• tomatoes - five pieces;
• young zucchini - two pieces;
• green peas - two glasses.

Technology

1. We rinse pepper, remove partitions and seeds, dry on a towel.
2. Zucchini and eggplant (pre-soaked in salted water) peel, chop on thin mugs with a thickness of 0.8-1 cm.
3. Dense tomatoes cut into circles, without removing the skins.
4. Peas are sorted out from the litter, washed and thrown back into a colander.
5. Each vegetable is placed in separate bags, placed in the freezer. Take out every half hour, shake.
6. After five to six hours, when all the products freeze and become solid, pour them into one container, mix.
7. We shift it into a large dense bag or container, send it to the freezer for storage.

Baked

Features Bulgarian peppers can be frozen not only fresh, but also baked. Such a preparation is defrosted in the microwave in winter, seasoned with garlic, vegetable oil and spices, served as an independent dish or as an additive to the side dish.

Would need:

• sweet pepper of different colors - any quantity;
• storage container.

Technology

1. Put peeled and washed peppers on a baking sheet.
2. We send whole vegetables to the oven for 40 minutes, heating it to 180 ° C.
3. We take out the peppers, transfer to the pan, insist under the lid for half an hour.
4. Remove the peel from the fruit, put it in a dry container, close it with a sealed lid.
5. Sent to the freezer for storage.

Stuffed

Features You can freeze pepper for the winter in the form of a semi-finished product, stuffing it with meat with rice and vegetables. Such a dish can only be removed from the refrigerator, cooked on the stove or in the slow cooker according to your favorite recipe. The only drawback is that stuffed peppers will take up a lot of space in the freezer, but its taste is worth it.

Would need:

• Bulgarian pepper - ten pieces;
• minced pork and beef - 0.5 kg;
• round rice - 100 g;
• onion - one;
• carrots - one;
• seasonings;
• salt;
• vegetable oil.

Technology

1. Peppers clear of stalks, seeds, partitions.
2. Grate the carrots, finely chop the onion, fry the vegetables in vegetable oil.
3. Boil the rice until half cooked, drain the water, rinse.
4. Add the carrot-onion fry, rice, spices and salt to the minced meat. Mix the mass with your hands.
5. Stuff each fruit by tapping the minced meat lightly with your fingers.
6. Put in a bag, send it to freeze.

Features of storage of vegetable semi-finished product

Peppers are frozen for the winter at temperatures from −19 ° C to −23 ° C. It is this range that allows you to save all the valuable properties of the fruit. The shelf life of such a blank while in the freezer is five to six months. In this case, the taste and aroma remain the same, do not change even after defrosting.

The duration of storage directly depends on the temperature in the freezer. Recommended indicators and terms are indicated in the table.

Table - Shelf life of frozen pepper blanks

Knowing how to freeze bell pepper for the winter, you can easily stock up on vitamin-ready foods until the new crop. If you follow all the rules of harvesting, it is easy to facilitate the process of preparing tasty and healthy dishes, without even defrosting the vegetable cubes. It is enough to hold them for a few seconds under running water, pour them into a soup or vegetable mixture.

Reviews: “It turns out friable, does not stick together”

This is an obligatory preparation for me every year, I love both borsch and fresh cabbage salad (I specially make a mix of pepper of different colors for it).I recently found out that you need to freeze peppers in a wide open container, this increases the content of vitamin C. I do this, then lightly tart the pepper straws and pour them into convenient bags, you don’t have to pick anything up in the winter, the pepper is easily picked up as much as needed.

Pavelia, http://www.povarenok.ru/recipes/show/32840/

The last couple of years, too, has adapted to freeze peppers (previously constantly canned). It’s much more convenient for me to freeze diced peppers. I do not blanch it and practically do not dry it. I just rinse thoroughly, cut into cubes, spread on a towel, lightly soak, removing excess moisture. And then I immediately spread it on a cutting board and put it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. At this time I cook another batch of pepper. After 20 minutes, the pepper has already froze and can be poured into a bag. Thus, the pepper is crumbly, does not stick together, it turns crumbly, does not stick together.

Marina, https://rusfermer.net/forlady/hranenie/perets/zamorozka-p/bolgarskogo.html

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