Extend the Life of Peppers, Cucumbers & Onions

[DebPC]

Green, red, and yellow peppers usually have a short life once you start cutting them up. If you know ahead of time you aren't going to use the whole thing- leave the vertical seed stem intact. Cut around the outside instead. It is amazing how much longer the remainder of the pepper will keep.

When using our chopper on those kinds of peppers, chop skin side up especially the bottom of the pepper. The skin can get quite tough and this solves that problem nicely.

Skin on cucumbers can also be tough when slicing with our garnisher. First score down with our zester/scorer and then use the garnisher. Piece of cake and pretty too.

When using only part of an onion, leave the root side intact. It will extend the freshness of the onion dramatically.

 

[pcchef4now]

More Pepper TipsDid you know there are sexes to peppers? It's true! Green, red, yellow, etc peppers are either male or female. A female pepper has 4 bumps on the bottom - it is more stable and usually a touch sweeter so, if you are looking for a pepper that will stand up -such as a pepper to be used for stuffed peppers or to creatively hold your condiments/dips/etc, you need a female. A male pepper only has three bumps and is not as stable (it easily falls over) and is usually not as sweet.

What is the easiest way to seed a pepper without using any tools? Just push in the top of the pepper (around the stem) with your thumbs. Then, pull out the stem - the seeds will come with and you are not wasting any pepper! I usually show this to people after I ask them how they seed a pepper because the majority will say they cut it with a knife and that always wastes some pepper. This way, you get all the seeds out and all you have to do is shake (or possibly rinse with some running water) to get the stragglers.

 

[pampered1224]

Too funnyIt seems to me that peppers take after humans or is it the other way around? Anyway, females are sweeter and usually more stable so guys...
Stop acting like peppers!
It is a neat tip though, I tried it for stuffed peppers and I was amazed because it made a much nicer presentation. I did pick all female peppers and then seeded them as directed. They stood up in my baker and cooked more evenly, (inside and out), and by leaving the peppers top in tact, it was much nicer as the filling stayed put in the pepper!
Thanks for the tip!