Bulk food sources and "putting it up"

[M Cosmo]

2-10-11

I live near Tampa Florida. On Hillsboro Ave. in north Tampa there is the Wholesale food Market.  It is open at 2 am.  By 6 am it it pretty much closed. I went to the outside market and there were about 30 Vendors (2 years ago there were over 100)  

 I had to drive a friend from Italy who owns a local restaurant who doesn't have a drivers lic.  I took him a couple years ago and it was amazing to see the decrease of the in vendors and buyers. 

The snow up north has doubled or tripled many crop prices. 

I bought  

Cases of

Beautiful deep red bell peppers. $14 (qty 2)

Dark green giant heads of Broccoli  $18

Italian Red Roasting Peppers. $18

Poblano Peppers $22

25 lbs of Organic Carrots. $16

Sundried tomatoes. $ Dont remember

 

So now i Had to put this up before it all went bad.

I got a great new Denali steamer I just love. 

After much research I choose to blanch steam all of the veggies. Only 5 minutes each. Then plunge them in ice water.  I then put them in seal a meal and froze them.

 

I roasted a case of the Red bell peppers and the Italian Roasters with Garlic and Oregano. At 400 deg until some of the skins start to turn black.

Frozen some in Seal a meal and put some up in Olive oil in the Frig.

The Pablanos were a different story. They are a hot between bell and Jalapenos.  These are the peppers used in Chilies Rellenos. I am on a Dr. Fuhrman Nutritarian Diet. So little to no cheese. 

I steamed all of the case of Poblanos. I put some up in the freezer whole so I could stuff them later. 

See my stuffed Poblano recipe. 

 

 

 

 

Deni 7600 3-Tier 9-1/2-Quart Stainless-Steel Digital Food Steamer