Just a guess, but, I'd expect the texture to be mush at that point.

Hopefully someone with actual experience with that will chime in.

I really hope some one with experience in it will help. I dont want some peppers to spoil, while I am waiting for enough to ripen to can. I am in a delima here, other than i guess at start of them ripening, canning one bottle at a time, or maybe small jars. I am new to this, I have made jams and such, but have always bought large quanities at once, never had to wait for nature in my back yard.

Canning peppers will pretty much produce a mushy pepper, or in the worst case with a pressure canner...instant pepper mush in a jar.

Picking peppers (especially with a "crisper" addition to the mix) can keep their crispness, but you have to deal with that whole vinegar taste. I'm not a pickling person, but there's a lot here who are.

Some people like to freeze them (or grill, peel, then freeze). When you use them they're not going to be crisp, but it's easy and great for cooking into stuff...stew/soup/marinade/etc.

You can dry thinner fleshed varieties for later use (my favorite method, personally). There's plenty of methods for that, too. Since I live in a humid climate and don't down a dehydrator I use a low-temperature oven drying method on pepper halves.

In my persoanl experience canning peppers, unless you pickle them, is a waste of time. Freezing is a great way to handle peppers. They can be taken out and dried in the dehydrator. They can be added to anything you are cooking. Dice peppers up for addition to cooked foods, always handy to have some diced peppers available. I freeze jalapenos for poppers, many peppers for stuffing. Freezing allows you to use peppers in so many ways.

I agree with vic01. Freezing is the way to go if you have the freezer space. If you don't, canning is the next best thing. Freezing does affect the texture and makes peppers somewhat mushy, but doesn't affect the taste like canning does. If you are using the frozen chiles in cooking, you shouldn't notice much difference. Canning gives them a vinegary taste, and in my opinion, leaches out a lot of the heat and flavor of the chile. For NM chiles, I roast, then freeze. Peel as you use them. Much better than canned green chile. Jalapenos and Serranos are washed whole, then put in a freezer bag and frozen. Of course, if you let the chiles ripen to red, you can simply dry them (if your climate allows) or dehydrate them and put in a ziplock bag. Keep in a cool and dry place, and they will last virtually forever. When ready to use, snip off the calix and empty the seeds, then throw the pods into boiling water for about 8 minutes to rehydrate. Depending on the thickeness of the skin, you may want to peel or run through a food mill. Dried/rehydrated chiles taste just like fresh.

well thank you for the insight, my whole plan was to freeze untill i get enough to pickle, and then pickle them all in bottles. But i am seeing i have a fw ripe no, last count i had 20 bushes, but i see all incoming peppers and buds are all same size, so i think ill just use these few raw in salds and such, and then hopefully the brunt of them should all come in, within a few days of each other so i can then pickle them, on a sid e note can i pickle the chile peppers with the habs, and the cherry's, never seen them mixed with others. I am wondering if it is a taste issue.

I normally freeze or dry my surplus for longer term storage/use. That being said, I've used frozen habaneros for pepper jellies with good results.

I doubt you'd be happy with the texture of thawed then pickled peppers. I only use fresh peppers for pickling. The necessary heat processing softens them too much to begin with unless you use Pickle Crisp etc. and even then not perfect. Starting with soft defrosted produce can only make the situation worse IMHO.

FWIW,

Bill

Another option, one that I'm going to be trying for poops and chuckles this year is candying. Due to osmotic pressure, the sugar in the heavy syrup replaces the water in the pepper's cells. I've heard a lot about dehydrating candied chilies and am just curious.

My sister made the most amazing candied jalapenos for Christmas gifts last year...we have tons of jalapenos coming in, but not in even amounts. Guessing it wouldn't work to freeze them to have them all at once for making candied ones? Not sure how to plan this out to be the most productive.

But I would never expect them to be of consistency for anything else.
I can't imagine canning them as is.
Pickling yes, but then if you did it in small jars and when it came time to use them, combine a couple of opened jars/varieties for immediate use?
My plans are, frozen for use by themselves as I have done in the past in breads and adding to sauces on the fly.
Canning in sauces to be put up for the winter.

And then drying some of the really hot ones to simply drop into store bought jars of pickled peppers to heat them up and as I need them.

Could you use froze jalapenos to make bread and butter peppers