Cooking with Tammy Kelly: Abundance of Banana Peppers
Hello, World!
Do you have more banana peppers than you think you possibly could ever eat? I am here to help!! Banana peppers are so versatile you can freeze, stuff, fry, pickle, or even grill them. Bananas are sweet, and sometimes even hot. They belong to the chili pepper family, the degree of sweet or heat will depend on the maturity of the pepper. The ripest peppers are sweeter than the young ones. Bananas have a generous amounts of Vitamin B6, and Vitamin C. They are also high in fiber and low in calories!!
Some added benefits include;
- they aid in better digestion
- help contribute to weight loss
- they have been shown to reduce the symptoms of sinusitis
- they improve your heart health
- they aid in lowering blood pressure
To Freeze: Pick or purchase fresh peppers, wash and clean with a vegetable brush under running water. Cut the stems off and cut in half. Remove seeds and membrane. Cut peppers into strips, dice, or slice, depending on how you plan to sue them.
Freeze peppers in a single layer on a clean cookie sheet with sides, about an hour or longer or until frozen.
Once frozen transfer to a freezer bag when frozen, exclude as much air as possible from the bag. This will keep the peppers separate. Pour out the amount you need, reseal the bag and return to the freezer.
To Pickle:
Pickled Banana Pepper Rings
2 ½ - 3 pounds banana peppers
5 cups apple cider vinegar
1 ¼ cups water
5 teaspoons canning salt
2 tablespoons celery seed
4 tablespoons mustard seed
4 pint canning jars
Wash and rinse 4 pint canning jars, keep hot until ready to use. Prepare lids and bands according to manufacturer’s directions (if this is your first time canning, please read Using Boiling Water Canners at https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html ).
Wash peppers well and remove stem end, slice peppers into ¼ inch thick rings. In a 4 quart Dutch oven or saucepan, combine the cider vinegar, water and salt, heat to boiling.
Place ½ tablespoon celery seed and 1 tablespoon mustard seed in the bottom of each clean, bot pint jar. Fill pepper rings into jars.
Cover pepper rings with boiling hot pickling liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel, adjust two-piece metal canning lids.
Process in a boiling water canner, as recommended above. Let cool, undisturbed, 12 to 24 hours and check for seals.
Shake jar to disperse spices before using the contents.
To Stuff:
Sausage Stuffed Banana Peppers
8 fresh banana peppers
1 lb. ground Italian sausage, I like mine spicy
½ cup mozzarella cheese
½ cup tomato sauce, low sugar
2 Tablespoon water
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Start by preparing your peppers and remove any large pieces of the inside rib. While wearing disposable gloves, cut tops of the peppers and remove any large pieces of the inside rib. There will be some seeds, if you leave them in the peppers will tend to be hotter, remove if you want to cool them down some.
Divide the ground sausage into 8 separate, equal portions and stuff one portion into each pepper.
In a baking dish, take half of the tomato sauce and spread it along the bottom of the dish. Add the water and mix it together with a spoon or whisk.
In a single layer, lay each pepper in the sauce in the dish.
Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the peppers.
Cover the baking dish with foil and pop it in the pre-heated oven for roughly 40 minutes.
At 40 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven and carefully remove the foil. Hot steam will be released. If a knife easily pierces the pepper, they are ready for the next step. (Sometimes I will cook for 1 hour just to be certain, depending on the thickness of the pepper).
Top each pepper with the mozzarella cheese. Turn the oven to broil and put the peppers back into the oven, uncovered. Broil until the cheese is golden brown and remove from the oven. Cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy!!
To Roast:
(I prefer this to frying)
Easy Roasted Banana Peppers
6 fresh banana peppers
½ large onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. I preheat the non-stick sprayed baking pan at the same time
Remove stems and seeds from peppers, slice into long strips, not too thin. Slice the onion into strips. Add olive oil and salt and pepper and use your hands to mix, being sure each piece is thoroughly coated.
Arrange veggies on the preheated baking dish, do not overcrowd. Squeeze lemon over the veggies.
Bake for 20 minutes or until edges start to turn black. Serve as a side or snack.
