Did I ever tell you that when I was 19, I worked at Subway sandwiches for like 5 bucks an hour? Well I did. The pay wasn’t much but I received a free sandwich every shift and got to flirt with all the cute guys that walked through the door each day so it wasn’t all that bad. True, I did have to wear an itchy green visor and plastic gloves, but it was actually kind of a fun job.
ANYWHO…. one of the things I learned while working at Subway was how to cut a pepper properly. Basically, slice the top of the pepper off as close to the stem as possible, pull the core out {and toss it into the compost bin} and then slice the thing up. Everybody does that, right? Wrong!
Maybe you think this is a totally lame tip, and honestly, it never occurred to me write about it before because it’s something I’ve done forever, but last month when Mrs. Hillbilly was over for my big Freezer Meal Party, I put her in charge of chopping the sweet peppers for our Sweet and Sour Meatballs dish. Much to my do not waste food horror, I looked backed from the kitchen and witnessed her chopping off the tops of the peppers and then tossing them into the garbage can {Yes, Mrs. H.B. I am totally outing you!!!}.
Do you throw away the tops of your peppers too? Or are you a penny pincher like me and toss the tops into a baggie to use in other recipes later? I mean, you paid for it, so why waste it right?
~ Mavis
Sarah K. says
I have never saved that part of the pepper, but I am totally going to try it now. Thanks for all the great tips!
Sarah
Ashley says
I caught my husband throwing out a top once, too! I’m like, hello, that’s the equivalent of a pepper strip or two! I don’t freeze my tops, I just use them for whatever I’m planning to do with the rest of the pepper. If I’m making stuffed peppers, the tops get cut up and thrown in with the stuffing. Or sometimes I just eat them as I chop…
Madam Chow says
I do this, too, and share some with my dogs. They LOVE these!
Jesse says
I’m with Ashley. I generally just eat them as I go! I would never throw them away! Never!
Pam E-P says
I freeze them with the rest of my veggie scraps to throw in the crock pot when I make broth.
Kari says
NEVER throw away good food! Mine always get used, either right away or frozen. Even my ends from onions, celery leaves, herbs that are expiring, etc, get put in a Tupperware in the freezer for making broth when I have a carcas of some sort to make bone broth with. Just dump the whole Tupperware of goodies in, and turn on the crockpot. What I cannot use does get composted.
ChrisM says
Yes, I use the onion ends, celery tops and leftover tomatoes, etc to make veggie broth too.
ChrisM says
Yep, I use every scrap of a bell pepper that isn’t stem or seeds! I also use broccoli stems (Just peel thick skin off and chop into chunks to cook with your broccoli, or put in soups, whatever.
Rosaleen says
Yup! Plus one for eating as I go, freezing, etc., but totally not into wasting anything. I’d toast the seeds to eat like squash seeds, if that were practical.
Heather T. says
Well lets see, I have a celery bottom in a dish of water and green onions in a dish of water and after making salad for dinner I will have a romaine bottom in a container of water, I am going with it gets used in my house. The part that would “normally” get tossed in compost (seeds, stem) gets frozen for broth, then composted or given to my dad’s chickens.
Susan S. says
I use every last scrap I possibly can, and peppers are no exception, especially when I’ve had to purchase them instead of them coming from my garden! Cutting tops straight across like that makes me bananas… It drives me crazy when I visit my Mom, because she cuts straight across with both Peppers and Strawberries!!!! I’ve tried to ask her to consider cutting / trimming the veggies a different way, and it doesn’t work. She has her way, and I’ve had to learn to bite my tongue – which is really really hard for me when it comes to food waste!
Kira Keeney says
Me too! I also peel broccoli stalks and then shred them for slaw or slice thin for stir fry. I used to save broccoli and cauliflower for stock, but the flavor wad too overpowering! Anyone have a good idea on how to use cauliflower “waste”? We go through a lot of it!
Nanci Fitschen says
You could use them to make a broccoli cauliflower cheese soup.
Patty P says
I have a friend who cuts her peppers this way and throws out the entire top part of the pepper. Let me tell you, I just about went through the roof when I saw it! I cut every last bit off of the pepper….those darned things are expensive!
Susan says
I give the tops to my dogs who love them as a treat instead of a bisquit.
Kristina says
Me too. Our two pups love veggies and can’t wait to get the scraps whenever we prep vegetables for meals.
Jenny says
I just use the tops! I cut the peppers in half from top to bottom, then in quarters. Then I pull out the membrane, seeds and the stem area, then I chop everything up and use it all. If I need strips, I just have curvy strips!
Tracy L. says
This is exactly what I do. Never ever throw away “food”!!!
Laura says
Same here!
Lace Faerie says
Same here, I don’t discriminate pepper parts. Everything but the white membrane and the seed core is used then and there.
Pam says
I save all my veggie scraps for broth (like a lot of others here do!). I also save chicken bones and skin, beef bones & large chunks of fat, pork bones, etc. for broths. Last summer I made 6 dozen quarts of broth (3 vegetable, 1 beef, 1 pork, 2 chicken) and I don’t know how many pints from just what I had saved in the freezer.
Pam says
2 veggie broth! I can count – just can’t type………..:)
Kim says
i used to work for Subway too and really liked it. Anyway, it’s hard with 2 roommates to save things like the tops of peppers, etc. They throw it out if they can’t use it right away. I learned from my mom how to save a lot of ‘leftover’ food to use in future meals and I feel so wasteful when I don’t.
Sue says
I cut my peppers straight across too — but then I push on the stem and it pops right out (to compost) and then I use the top just as I’m using the rest of the pepper, chopped, sliced, whatever.
Heidi says
This is how I slice my peppers as well. I think there is the least amount of waste doing it this way.
Lace Faerie says
Me, too! I try to never waste food!
Cynthia H says
When I was growing up, my mother taught me to cut the top out similar to how you cut a cone out of the top of a tomato to get the stem out. Later, somebody showed me that if you slice the pepper from the bottom up you can pull the two halves away from the core and the seeds (mostly) without too much difficulty. Works with bell peppers, no idea if it works with hot peppers because I don’t like hot peppers (and they don’t like me!).
Angie W says
I cut them in a method that goes way faster and the tops naturally get cut off. Stand it upright on the cutting board and cut off the 4 side from top to bottom. All that’s left at the end is the top stem and a small bit at the bottom that is connected to the top by a few white membranes. Then just take the bottom off and chop that up too. It’s super fast and the 4 side pieces are pretty easy to cut into strips because they are flat.
sue says
I stand the pepper up and cut straight down through the stem to the bottom. I now have pepper halve with half the stem, seeds, and inside on each half. Sorta like you are cutting it to see the insides. Then I pull out the stem and membranes and toss into the colander in the sink to wash and rinse out the seeds. No waste of peppers.
Sandy says
I cut the core AND I freeze it with the rest of my veggie scraps for use in making vegetable stock each week. The rind and seeds go into the stock, too. The poor compost pile only ever sees onion skins, garlic skins, shallot skins, and radish tops before everything else is turned into vegetable stock mush. Then the mush goes into the compost.
Radha says
Another thing I dont ever do is to remove the seeds or membranes. Seeds have the heat and flavor in them and I end up using them in whatever I am cooking.
Debi says
I actually cut it into small pieces and freeze in a plastic bag. When i need some for a recipe, such as homemade pizza, stir-fry, etc., I just pull it out of the bag.
Sete says
i dehydrate mine and veggies that are starting to look a bit old get dehydrated too and then put into my food processor and made into veggie powder to add to soup, salads, pastas, what not….