Since February, the pepper marathon begins: soak the seeds, plant the seedlings and nourish them like a small child, plant them in the ground, protect them from the cold, find a suitable neighborhood, pritenit, water, fertilize, banish mischief and such. And now, finally, the harvest, but what a plentiful! How now with this wealth to dispose of everything useful that is contained in pepper, enough for all and for a long time? Or maybe at the end of the summer you purchased a bag of this juicy and tasty vegetable just for the purpose of preparing for the winter and now you repent of your business, puzzled how to process it.
The options for weight, preparations of pepper for the winter are very popular, and the technology for their preparation is varied and simple to perform at home.
Harvesting pepper for the winter: how to freeze a vegetable
Fresh vegetable is stored in suitable conditions until late autumn, but its reserves are soon exhausted, and it is very nice to eat pepper in the winter season. A great way to prepare it is to freeze. Properly frozen peppers do not lose their vitamins and can be stored until the next season without changing the taste and useful composition.
Important! Peppers, as well as other fruits, are desirable to be harvested during the period of their mass appearance, when they are maximally saturated with useful substances.Products are frozen for the purpose of their long-term storage without significant loss of useful substances.
People have long used this method, especially living in those places where winter is long and cold. However, information about the long-term storage of products using ice came from ancient Rome. In Russia, products were stored in special cellars-glaciers, which supplied ice and snow at the end of winter.To preserve vegetables and greens in the winter, read the recipes for preparing squash, eggplant, parsley, horseradish, sorrel, garlic, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes.
Peppers can be consumed in a thawed state, but it should be borne in mind that the water that forms part of its cells, after becoming ice and subsequent defrosting, changes the structure of the vegetable, and it ceases to be crisp and elastic. During heat treatment, this feature does not matter.
Peppers are frozen for stuffing, adding to vegetable soups and stews, for cooking scrambled eggs with vegetables, eggplant caviar and other dishes that thanks to the freeze it became possible to cook all year round.
Important! Peppers must be prepared for freezing in such a way that at the right time it is easy to get it out of the freezer and send it to the pan or frying pan, bypassing the defrosting process.For freezing select ripe fresh fruit, not crushed, with no signs of damage or rot. The less time passes between removing the pepper from the bush and freezing it, the more vitamins it will save for you. Ideally, if the peeled pepper is immediately processed. In any case, it is better to do it as quickly as possible.
Selected peppers are washed and dried with a paper or cloth towel. After that, it should be cleaned and cut. It is no longer necessary to wash it, the seeds are shaken out of the middle, and not washed out, in order not to saturate the raw material with unnecessary moisture, which after frost will turn into frost. There are various ways to clean peppers, and they depend on the purpose for which they are harvested. - If you need to freeze it for stuffing, you should make a knife a cut along the circumference below the “hangers”, remove the seed box, shake out the seeds and remove partitions with your fingers. After that, put the pods one into another in the manner of glasses in the amount you need for a single cooking. If you use a method in which the seed box is pressed inside, and then the tail is removed, it will be impossible to put the fruits into each other, and frozen piecewise hollow fruits will take up a lot of space in the freezer.
Important! Always freeze everything in portions, so that you can use the contents of one package in full at one time. Repeated freezing is strictly not recommended. In one general package, all raw materials should not be stored: when extracting a part of the contents, the rest will be depressurized, while some of the nutrients will be lost and the shelf life will be reduced.
- For borscht and soups, stews and other dishes, pepper is frozen with such pieces that you used to use to make them: slices, rings, half rings, quarter rings, cubes, thinner or thicker. It is convenient to clean the pod for subsequent cutting in the following way: cut the whole crude pepper lengthwise into two halves, select the contents with your fingers and, knocking the halves several times, shake out the sticking seeds.
If you have not yet decided what kind of dishes you will cook and how you want to cut the raw material for them, you can freeze it in halves. They are nested "troughs" into each other, compact in storage, and they are easy to cut, even frozen. True, there is a risk of breaking such slices when slicing, but this is easily avoided if you hold them at room temperature for a couple of minutes. The cleaning method is similar to the above.
Prepared as necessary, pepper is laid out on a tray, suitable in size to be placed in the freezer, and placed in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. During this time, unnecessary condensate will evaporate and the raw materials will be ready for freezing. After removing the towel, the tray is placed in the freezer. If your freezer has the function of "intensive freezing," it is advisable to use it: the faster the product freezes, the more vitamins it will remain.
After 2-3 days, the tray is removed and the product is very quickly packaged in batches, releasing or pumping out all the air from the bags. Packages are labeled (content, date, weight, desired use - any information that is useful to you), because it is difficult to determine what it is by the appearance of the frozen product and to remember when it was sent to freeze.
We offer several recipes from frozen sweet peppers for the winter:
- Stuffed Peppers
- Preparation for vegetable stew or soup with peppers and tomatoes
- Fried eggs with vegetables "Summer"
Drying
Drying is the removal of a liquid from a mass of a substance in order to store it for a long time.
Dried pepper, or paprika, is convenient in all respects: it preserves vitamins, has an excellent aroma, is compact in storage, will add spice to any dish and enrich its taste and color.
Did you know? Drying is the most ancient way of preparing products for future use, it is impossible to trace the history of it due to the fact that written sources appeared in comparison with it quite recently. It is a well-known fact that some animals, obeying instinct, in this way prepare food for themselves in order to be able to spend the winter without starving, or simply to eat the treat later.Dried vegetables in the air and with the help of household appliances: electric dryer, electric or gas oven. You can do this in the oven, but this method has now become exotic.
The washed and dried fruits are cleaned and rid of the seeds in any convenient way, cut lengthwise into 4 parts and cut into thin transverse strips. Pour the prepared raw material into pallets or pans in which it is subjected to drying.- Pepper drying in the air. Place the container with raw materials in the shade, where direct sunlight does not fall, and cover it with gauze from flies. From time to time, the mass should be agitated for uniform drying. At night, trays should be brought into the house. In summer, when the air temperature reaches 30 degrees and higher, the pepper dries in 3 days, in the autumn warm days it may take a week. The drying time depends to a large extent on the size of the slices.
- Drying peppers in an electric drier. Spread slices into uniform trays in an even layer, set to 50-degree mode, bring to the desired state, and let cool when the device is turned off. It takes about 12 to 24 hours.
- Drying peppers in the oven. The sliced raw material is laid out with a layer of not more than 1 centimeter on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. The baking tray is placed in the included oven, temperature regime - 50 degrees. The door should be ajar to free evaporation of the liquid. If the oven is equipped with a convection mode, they should be used. Mix the mass several times in 2 hours with a spoon or spatula, turn it off after 2 hours and allow to cool with the door open. After complete cooling, stirring the mass, repeat the steps. Process until completely dried. The whole procedure may take 2-3 days.
Important! If the paprika is well dried, its slices break easily, losing elasticity.The finished product in the form of slices or in powder form, obtained by grinding in a blender, stored in a sealed jar in a dark place.
An air-dried paprika is preliminarily calcined in an oven heated to 100 degrees, which turns off immediately after placing the pan in it and cools with the product. Dried pepper application
Almost every hot dish with the addition of dried pepper will benefit. In collaboration with other vegetables, it works great, highlighting their taste and bringing original notes. Stews, sauces, meat, fish, first courses will play with shades of taste and be enriched with vitamins and other useful substances, and sausages, cheeses and pickles will get a unique range of flavors, as well as a beautiful shade.
Did you know? Ground paprika can be used as an additive to bread dough or seasoning, alone or in combination with other dried vegetables and greens.With paprika perfectly combined:
- basil;
- Bay leaf;
- garlic;
- hot peppers.
Pickling
Marinating is a method of preserving products, where preservative acts as an acid in combination with salt, inhibiting the development of microorganisms. Sugar, vegetable oil, spices, garlic, onions are often added to marinades.
However, the acid concentration, which is acceptable for human consumption, is not a long-term obstacle to the development of bacteria, mold and fungi, therefore, if you do not intend to use the product in the near future, it is subjected to subsequent pasteurization or storage at low temperatures close to zero. 
Marinated peppers are an excellent snack and addition to salads for the winter. Marinate it as a standalone product and as an ingredient in vegetable platter.
People involved in harvesting, most often use proven family recipes and share experiences on how to pickle Bulgarian pepper and other vegetables for the winter.
Recipes for Marinated Peppers:
Marinated Peppers in Tomato
For the marinade will need:
- 2 liters of tomato juice mixed with 1 liter of water;
- 2 tablespoons of salt;
- 3 tablespoons of sugar;
- 2 tablespoons of vinegar;
- 1 cup of sunflower oil.
For this amount of marinade you need 3 kilograms of washed and cleaned thick-walled Bulgarian pepper. 
Pour a portion of the prepared marinade into a deep frying pan or saucepan, bring to a boil, dip some peppers into it, cover and simmer until they are soft and the skin begins to move away from them.
Put the prepared peppers into clean, dry jars, roll up with sterile caps, turn them upside down, wrap and allow to cool. Marinade top up as needed for each subsequent batch of vegetables.
You can store this conservation at room temperature.
Marinated Peppers with Vegetables
Put the pepper washed and cut into pieces in 3-liter jars, pour boiling water for 15 minutes, pour the water into the pan, boil it and pour it again for 15 minutes.
Add 2 tablespoons of salt, sugar and vinegar, and spices to taste: hot, black peas or allspice, coriander, bay leaf and the like. 
To boil the marinade with spices for the third time, pour the jar with the contents to the top, to leak out of it a little, cover with a sterile lid and roll up. Turn the jar upside down, wrap and leave to cool.
This recipe is good because you can add any other vegetables for a vegetable platter in a jar of peppers:
- cucumbers;
- tomatoes;
- cabbage;
- cauliflower;
- bow;
- garlic;
- carrot.
Pickling
One of the methods of preserving products is salting. A high concentration of salt prevents the development of microorganisms that poison the products with their toxins, leading to their deterioration and unsuitability for consumption. 
Salt leads to a rapid dehydration of the product, the released fermented moisture adds to the salt, an already powerful preservative, also lactic acid, which is formed, albeit in smaller quantities than with sourdough, but in tandem with salt is excellent preservative products.
Did you know? In ancient times, salt was mined very hard and costly, hence the superstition that scattered salt leads to a quarrel. Then it really was a cause for contention. Nevertheless, for winter harvesting, even in the poorest households, they tried to get at least some salt.For the process of salting suitable fruit of any degree of maturity. Usually it needs to be cleaned, although there are recipes that do not involve cleaning. Peppers are salted with greens, spices, and spices, but salt remains in a fairly large quantity as an indispensable ingredient.
To avoid mold, sprinkle mustard powder on the surface or “clog up” the liquid with an airtight layer of oil.
Salt pepper, harvested for the winter, before being eaten, is well washed and soaked so that excess salt comes out. 
There are bitter and sweet varieties of pepper. Fruits of sweet pepper are used for processing, and also consumed fresh. Bitter varieties of capsicum are used as seasonings.For salting the pepper, prepare the sliced fruits cut into two halves with salt, lay with the peel down into a container, tamp, put the oppression. When the juice stands out, transfer it to the jar with the juice, if it does not cover the halves, add brine (2 tablespoons of salt per liter of water), press it out of the cut-out plastic lid and jar of water, and hold for 2 weeks in a cool place. Cover with a paper lid, store in the refrigerator or cellar.
How to ferment pepper
Pouring is a preservation method in which the juice released with the help of salt as a result of fermentation of lactic acid bacteria with sugar contained in the product releases lactic acid, a preservative product.
Important! In many sources they write that pickling and salting are one and the same technology. This is not true. Indeed, in both cases, salt is present, which "drives out" the liquid, and it ferments, producing lactic acid. Only when salting the main preservative is salt, and when fermentation is lactic acid. The difference between the methods of conservation - in their ratio.Pickled foods do not need soaking and have a sour taste, while saline - too salty to eat and need pretreatment.
Harvesting pepper for the winter according to the starter technology is simple, it is easy to find recipes and methods for its preservation. Here, for example, one of them. 
Подвялить стручки при комнатной температуре в течение пары дней, разложив их на столе или подоконнике. Перед приготовлением стручки вымыть и наколоть. Уложив подготовленные таким образом плоды, пересыпать их рубленым чесноком и зеленью укропа и залить холодным 5%-ным раствором соли. After hitting peppers and putting a pressure on them, leave for 3-4 days fermentation at room temperature.
Important! At the end of fermentation, the vegetable should remain crisp, although it has slightly changed its structure.Drain the brine and letting it drain, fold the pods tightly into the cans washed with soda, tamping up and draining the brine that stands out.
Ways to preserve pickled pepper:
- 10-minute sterilization of cans without (!) Brine and hermetic sealing;
- pouring freshly prepared hot brine of the same concentration and seaming;
- pouring freshly prepared cold brine of the same concentration, capping with a plastic cap and storing in a cold place.
Other interesting recipes
There are many recipes blanks with this vegetable, and they all deserve to be given their due, because these family recipes, passing from hand to hand, repeatedly tested and loved. Below are some of them.
Did you know? Sometimes the brine can become viscous, this happens because the microflora living on the surface of the vegetable takes part in the fermentation process. The strength of the brine is caused by a special stick.Salad with pepper and ministerial rice
- Boil 1 liter of vegetable oil, fry in it for 10 minutes 1 kilogram of onion, cut into rings.
- Add 1 kg of grated carrots to the onion, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Attach to the mass of 4 kilograms of tomatoes, cut into 4 parts, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Introduce 1 kg of pepper, cut into slices, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Put in a mass of 2 cups dry raw rice, 0.5 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt.
- Simmer everything together until rice is fully cooked; it will take about half an hour.
- Without turning off the fire, put hot salad in clean, dry jars and roll up.
- Wrap the cans upside down on the banks with a blanket and cool them down completely.
This salad is exceptionally tasty, nourishing and prepared without the addition of vinegar: preservation occurs due to the acid contained in tomatoes. Salad "Ministerial", cold or heated, can successfully replace the side dish. 
Pepper salad with vegetables "Lecho"
- Prepare the marinade from 1.5 l of tomato juice, 1 cup of sunflower oil, 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 cup of sugar and ¾ cup of vinegar, boil.
- Lower in the gravy alternately and simmer for 15 minutes: 1 kilogram of carrots, grated on a coarse grater, 1 kilogram of onion, cut into rings, 5 kilograms of pepper, each pod cut into 6-8 parts.
- Spread hot salad in clean, dry jars and roll up.
- Cool down and wrap.
This salad serves as an excellent vitamin supplement to the winter table, bright taste and color reminding of summer. 
Sweet pepper is a favorite fruit of many, it is able to diversify and significantly enrich the lean winter diet with nutrients. Take your time and energy at the end of the summer or early autumn, prepare this amazing vegetable in various ways and enjoy its taste for a long time.
