Preserving and Storing Peppers
There are two primary ways that you can prepare your peppers for storage. Typically, there are three, but we’re not touching on freezing because that won’t necessarily be an option if SHTF. You can either dry your peppers or can them.
Either way, you’re going to lose some nutritional value. Water soluble vitamins such as vitamin C are damaged by water, heat and air. Even 5 minutes of boiling can cause up to a 64% loss of vitamin C. Drying has similar effects. The best way to get the vitamin C is to eat it fresh or lightly steamed – another reason to have indoor pepper plants.
On the other hand, beta carotene, which is converted by your body into vitamin A, is actually often more accessible after light cooking. It’s also retained when the peppers are dried.
Air Drying
If you live in a relatively dry climate, you can dry your peppers by hanging them up. This will take anywhere from 3-5 weeks depending on the temperature and the amount of humidity in the air.
Before drying, check for softness or bad spots. You want to dry peppers that are firm and healthy because drying doesn’t kill mold or other nasties.
Just run a string through the stem or cap of the peppers, leaving an inch or so between each pepper; you don’t want them to touch. Hang them somewhere dry and leave them alone. When they feel crunchy, they’re done.
Oven Drying
Cut the peppers into ½-1 inch slices and place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer. You want to keep your oven 130-150 degrees. You can do this by keeping the door slightly cracked. It will take anywhere from 4-36 hours for your peppers to completely dry.
Dehydrator
You can dry your peppers whole or cut them in pieces if you’re drying them in the dehydrator. It will take anywhere from 4-24 hours for them to completely dry depending on your dehydrator, the humidity and how big the pieces are. Again, when they’re crunchy they’re done.
Regardless of the method you use, store peppers in a dry jar or vacuum seal them after they’re dry. You can also grind them powder if you’d like. Dried peppers will stay good for a year or more if stored properly.
Canning
Peppers cook quickly so you want to be careful how you can them, especially if you want to preserve the nutrients and enzymes. They’ll turn to mush pretty quickly so pack them into the jars raw for best results.
If you’re cooking them in sauce, barely bring them to a boil before packing them into the jars. They’ll cook more in the water bath and while cooling. Follow standard canning procedures to properly can your peppers. One of the biggest advantages to canning food is that it remains good for up to 10 years if canned and stored properly!
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