Hard Freeze Harvest

We've had a couple of frosts, but we are due for our first hard freeze Friday night. Even after frost, the tomatoes, peppers and basil have still continued to grow (slowly - and unbeleivable as it seems because of our cold temps). Today I cust down all the good basil left, picked all the peppers, and took the few tomatoes that have started to blush since I picked last Saturday.

The basil was run thru the food processor, mixed with a bit of vinegar first (to try to keep the basil from turning black from oxidizing), then olive oil. It was then divided up in an ice cube tray to freeze.

Lemon basil is on the left, regular basil is on the right.

I decided to do something similar with the peppers, using more vineger to provide acidity, then adding a bit of olive oil - don't try this at home, I'm unsure how it will work, or how safe it is. Since I had quite a few peppers, I filled one ice cube tray, plus a jelly and jam jar. Those jars were vacuum sealed before placing in the freezer.

I'm hoping these processes make using the peppers more convenient and the basil flavor stays more fresh.