Freezing Chillies. Everything You Need To Know About The Easiest Way Of Preserving Your Chillies.

"Freezing chillies - how hard can it be ?", you ask.

Don't get me wrong, it is as simple as you think it is. However, there are a couple of traps for young players that I would like to go over. Just to guarantee that you are not disappointed with your results 6 months later.

You can use any type of chilli here; red or green, thick or thin.

1. before you freeze, think about how you generally use your chillies. If you usually de-stem and split them open to remove the seeds and pith, then do it NOW as it's always an inconvenient time when you want to use them later on.
2. if you always use your chillies chopped finely then do that now. You can then put them into ice-cube trays (maybe add a little water), freeze them, then tip them into freezer bags ready for use whenever you want.
3. always double, or even triple bag your chillies before freezing.
   
   What the hell do I mean ?
   
   Double bag means you have one bag inside another - and so forth.
   
   Why ? Two reasons;
   
   • it stops your chillies getting freezer burn (oxidised),which spoils the flavour
     
   • it stops the chilli leaching out and affecting other foods that it is in contact with in the freezer.
4. If you've triple bagged your chillies, you'll get at least a year of storage even in a deep freeze.
5. Just keep in mind that this process does not impart any other flavours to the chillies whereas smoking your chillies and my process for drying green chillies does. It all depends on what you are after.

Now to use your frozen chillies. You can either thaw them out or simply throw them in while still frozen.