From Field to Freezer

Most of us don’t think much about the origins of that humble bag of frozen veggies in our freezer — that is, until it saves the day when the fridge is empty and our stomach is growling. But behind the scenes, there are entire farms and processing facilities dedicated to growing, cooking, and freezing that produce so it’s as delicious and fresh as possible when you cook it at home. In Washington, most of these veggies were freshly harvested just hours before they were frozen.

In Central Washington, Williamson Farms in Quincy grows all sorts of crops — garlic, green peas, sweet corn, carrots, cherry peppers, and jalapenos, to name a few — and they also grow bell peppers specifically for processing to, say, become pizza toppings or part of a stir–fry mix.

Eric Williamson, who co-owns and operates Williamson Farms, walks through a giant field of bright green pepper plants growing in alternating rows with soft amber wheat. He says the farm grows the wheat to help peppers adapt to growing in this area where the hot sun can harm the plants and the sandy soil makes the plants susceptible to falling over in high winds.

“We plant these strips of wheat to keep it from blowing,” he says. “And if we let the wheat grow with the peppers, it protects them from the sun.”

In addition, he said when they harvest the peppers, the wheat is cut down and becomes organic matter to nourish future plantings.

Williamson leans down and shakes one of the plants, which is heavy with several large green peppers as well as a few tiny ones. Pepper plants can produce 10 or 15 peppers, but he says only five to eight of them are actually harvested.

“The big ones down at the bottom, those are the ones that are going to be harvested,” he says. “The way that the harvester works is it cuts the whole plant off, and it basically shakes it. They come off pretty easily when you shake them.”

The timing of the harvest determines whether the peppers are green or red, because all colors of bell peppers are actually from the same plant.

“The green is the immature version, and as it matures, it turns red,” says Williamson.

After harvest, the fresh peppers are immediately shipped to the J.R. Simplot Company’s processing plant in Boardman, Oregon — about 150 miles away — where they will be cleaned, cut, and chilled, then shipped to the company’s facility in Pasco — 55 miles from Boardman. That means that they could be harvested, cooked, and then frozen all in the same day.

“These peppers were actually in the field hours ago,” says Tyler Johnson, the Pasco plant director, pointing at enormous, plastic-lined bins filled with diced peppers. “That’s about the freshest green peppers you can get.”

The diced peppers are flame-cooked on an enormous roaster, which can be adjusted to temperatures ranging from 300 to 450 degrees, depending on the product that’s being made.

“This allows our customers to have that nice, fresh- grilled taste without all the trouble of preparation,” Johnson says. “You just grab it from a bag, and it’s almost like you just cooked it off a barbecue.”

The roaster’s conveyor belt drops the cooked peppers into a steam blancher, which provides the “kill step,” says Johnson.

“It’ll take away anything bad that might make you sick,” he says. “It’s just like cooking at home.”

After the roasting and blanching process comes the flash freeze in an enormous stainless steel machine, which cools the veggies to around zero degrees.

“What that’s going to do is lock in all the quality of the peppers,” says Johnson.

In the kitchen, he points at sealed bags of freshly cooked peppers that just came off the line.

“This is a red and green pepper blend, and then we enrobe it with a fajita seasoning,” he says. “It takes the work out of preparation. Nobody’s sitting in their kitchen dicing it, but you still get that farm-fresh taste.”

And thanks to the proximity of the farms to the processing plants, these frozen peppers truly are farm fresh.