Hatch Chiles

I'm almost out of the ten pounds of Hatch Chiles I roasted last year....what a treat they were all winter. I want to make sure I have room in my freezer for another ten pounds. Anyone recall just when they hit the stores? I'm thinking mid-August?

[Jenise]

Karen, availability is generally the latter half of August thru early September. I roasted 35 pounds of them myself last year and thought I'd be able to skip a year, but believe it or not I'm running low too.

Thanks, I will be watching Raley's weekly ad. I'm making a Mexican rice side dish for tonight and realized how low I was getting. Gene and I got a system going last year, he roasts, I pull the stems, then run packages through the Food Saver. He cleans up the trays.

[Jenise]

Thanks, I will be watching Raley's weekly ad. I'm making a Mexican rice side dish for tonight and realized how low I was getting. Gene and I got a system going last year, he roasts, I pull the stems, then run packages through the Food Saver. He cleans up the trays.

Pulling the stems really helps. You can sit in a chair, pull the stem, deposit it into a large brown paper bag, shake the pepper once to eliminate most of the seeds also into the bag, and then bag. I, however, don't use my Food Saver. If you rinse the peppers such that they get a bit rehydrated, they freeze beautifully in small sandwich bags. I make neat little packets of 3 to 4 peppers each, then fill large thick freezer Ziplocs with the small baggies. Plenty of protection for up to two years in the freezer much less expensively than using the Food Saver materials.

Thanks, I will be watching Raley's weekly ad. I'm making a Mexican rice side dish for tonight and realized how low I was getting. Gene and I got a system going last year, he roasts, I pull the stems, then run packages through the Food Saver. He cleans up the trays.

Pulling the stems really helps. You can sit in a chair, pull the stem, deposit it into a large brown paper bag, shake the pepper once to eliminate most of the seeds also into the bag, and then bag. I, however, don't use my Food Saver. If you rinse the peppers such that they get a bit rehydrated, they freeze beautifully in small sandwich bags. I make neat little packets of 3 to 4 peppers each, then fill large thick freezer Ziplocs with the small baggies. Plenty of protection for up to two years in the freezer much less expensively than using the Food Saver materials.

I seems like I would have to use a lot of sandwich bags. I put 5 to six peppers in a Food Saver bag, take out what I need (they come apart easily) then reseal. I just might try your method this year and see how it works. Are you using the zip lock type sandwich bags?