This year I have a bumper crop of sweet peppers. So far I’ve harvested 45 fruits from the garden.
What do you do with 40+ sweet peppers?
First, we had a wonderful stuffed bell pepper dinner with our fresh from the garden crop. Delightful! Try a recipe from here, here, or for one with a twist here.
For the remaining 30 peppers, I’m going to dehydrate them of course. The whole reason for growing them this year was to be able to put some up for after the season.
These sweet, juicy fruits will be a welcome addition to my pantry this winter!
Prepare the Sweet Peppers for Dehydrating
Bell peppers are one of the easiest fruits to preserve by dehydrating. There is no need to blanch them beforehand.
- Thoroughly wash and de-seed each pepper.
- Cut the peppers in half and then into strips.
- Cut the strips into 1/2 inch pieces or larger.
- Lay the pieces in a single layer on dehydrator sheets, it’s okay if they touch.
- Process them at 125-135° until crisp. This will take 12-24 hours, depending on the humidity in your kitchen.
It is surprising how much the pieces shrink during the dehydrating process. Anything smaller than half an inch may fall through the dehydrator trays once they are dry.
Related: Dehydrating Asparagus
Here are the dehydrated sweet peppers ready for storage. 30 fresh peppers became almost 3 cups of dried peppers for my pantry shelf.
They should be stored in a container with a tightfitting lid or sealed in a FoodSaver bag with the air removed.
Dehydrated sweet peppers will last for one year in the pantry.
They can be rehydrated by dropping them directly into whatever you are cooking. You may need to add a bit more water to the process.
I like to add mine to our morning scrambled eggs by placing them into a skillet with enough water to dampen them. Turn the heat on high and cook until the water evaporates. Add your eggs and cook as usual. Homegrown bell peppers are a welcome addition to our food storage.
The best part of all- my plants are growing strong and there will be another crop in just a month or so. Do you dehydrate sweet peppers? Suggest another preservation method for my next batch in the comment section below.
Related: Garden Success & Failure
Finding out I can dehydrate the veggies from my garden was the breakthrough moment when it comes to food storage. I prep my veggies every year since then and I won’t stop doing it. It so convenient! Last year was my first time dehydrating sweet peppers and I was impressed. Although I love them all, tomatoes are my all time favourite.
Don’t forget to dry your tomatoes and make tomato powder. This way, you won’t have to eat those cardboard tomatoes from the store. Also makes great tomato paste.
I dry my peppers the same way? I take some a step further by putting them in a grinder then storing the powder in a jar. Great trick to season foods for those who dont like eating the pieces of pepper! Love your tips!!