Can I freeze a fresh raw NM chile (not roasted) and still use it?

November 24, 2016 6:36 AM

Again with the NM chiles ...

I got a case of fresh chiles a month or 2 ago. I roasted & peeled most of them and everybody was delirious for a week. I also froze some of the roasted ones, and some roasted peeled flesh. All good.

But I also froze a couple dozen raw ones, just to see, and I'm having trouble. When I thaw them, and then roast them:
a) they're very hard to peel
b) the flesh has reduced to where it's almost gone

Still got a bunch. Is there a way to use them? Any tips?

posted by LonnieK to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

If I were you, I might try (1) thawing, (2) roasting, and then (3) processing the whole roasted peppers (sans stem) through a food mill. The food mill will separate the flesh from the skin and seeds, and leave you with something close to a red pepper coulis, which you can then incorporate into your favorite coulis recipe. It can be used to top meat, veggies, and pasta, to dip bread into, or however else you please.
posted by ourobouros at 6:51 AM on November 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

Chilli pepper flesh tends to disintegrate when frozen, IME; I've got a bag of frozen jalapeno, anaheim and padron peppers from this year's crop and they've all done the same - when defrosted the flesh has lost a lot of it's integrity. Basically okay for using in something where you're after the heat/flavour and don't care about the integrity of the whole chilli, but I wouldn't like to try roasting them, they'd just be a soggy mess.
posted by parm at 7:11 AM on November 24, 2016

From NMSU, recipes for frozen chiles: Home Canned Sweet Spreads Made with Green Chile.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:04 AM on November 24, 2016

Why not use them to make a (mild) hot sauce?
posted by Wavelet at 8:56 AM on November 24, 2016

Response by poster: So there's hope. I'd used ourobouros's method for moles, on the same principle, with success. The other replies above seem related to that. And I'll check the recipes.
Onward! And thanks all.
posted by LonnieK at 9:08 AM on November 24, 2016

The ones you froze raw have the disadvantage of having the tough, tough skin attached to the now mushy flesh. There's no reason to roast them anymore, which is often done so that you can separate the skin from the flesh.

You now have a new way to separate the skin and flesh. Partially thaw the raw frozen chili, slit it down the side, and scrape the flesh off of the skin while the skin is thawed but the flesh is partially frozen. The partially frozen state will help preserve the structure of the flesh.

Roasting is not required to get the flavor of the chili. I've observed this while using a propane torch to peel chilis: the flesh of the chili is barely warmed if the chili is fresh. I did have to roast or bake the skinless chili afterwards to remove its natural vegetable crispness.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:14 AM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]