Thin-fleshed chillies dry with air
A large part of the stored water evaporates in the constantly dry climate. Microorganisms and bacteria multiply very slowly, which preserves the chillies for a long time. Without further aids, this practice is only successful with thin-fleshed fruits.
- Aji Amarillo
- Cayenne
- Chiltepin
- Dutch Red
- Fatalii Brown
- Mellow Star
- Red Rocket
- Thai dragon
- Tabasco
also read
- Can I pour chilli with water from the tap?
- Harvest plenty of chilli - it depends on the timing
- Maxing out chilli - not essential - nevertheless useful
Preserve chilli with a needle and thread
Drying is most convenient if you pull a string through the stems of the pods and hang everything up. Then the chillies dangle in the air like laundry on a line.
The ideal location is in a warm, airy place. There it can be semi-shady to shady. The process is complete after about 3 to 6 weeks. The most important premise for dried chilies is absolute protection from moisture.
Decorative ristras - the Mexican way of drying chilies
Did you notice the picturesque chilli ristras on the house walls while on vacation in Mexico or Hungary? How to conjure up your own sharp wall decoration from your harvest:
- Connect 3 chilies to the stems with a piece of sewing thread
- Pull the thread through between two pods and tighten in a loop
- Tie further bundles of three or individual chillies into this thread at a distance of the length of the pod
Now attach a long piece of sturdy string to a curtain rod or a cabinet handle before continuing. Tie a piece of wood or a cork at the bottom.
- Starting at the bottom, braid the chili bundles together like a braid
- the stable cord forms a braided strand
- the other two strands form the stems of two chilies each
- at the end, all pods stand close together and point with their tips outwards
Thick-fleshed chilies go into the dehydrator
The local climatic conditions are not made for drying voluminous chilies. In this case, a little technical support is required. Special dehydrators have proven their worth.
The devices work with an electric heater and a fan. The heated air flows through the sieve floors with the spread out chillies. Depending on the level of performance and equipment, drying can take up to 8 hours.
The installation of a timer is recommended. In any case, you should keep an eye on the drying process. Properly dried pods are still somewhat rubbery. Finally, let the dried chilies cool down and put them in an airtight container.
Where there is no dehydrator, the oven takes over
For hobby gardeners, it is not always worth investing in a dehydrator. If you want to preserve your favorite varieties from time to time, you can use the oven.
- Wash the chillies under running water
- cut off the stem from each pod
- Halve the fruit lengthways
- Line an oven tray with baking paper and spread the chillies on top
- Dry at 75 degrees for about 6 hours
If you want to do the drying on the gentle cycle, the pods stay in the oven for 4 hours. Then you can soak up the sun for a day in the fresh air. On the third day, the process continues in the oven for 3 hours.
These chilli varieties are only dried with the help of a machine
- Apple Sweet Pimiento
- Caribbean Red
- Cherry Bomb
- Early jalapeno
- festival
- Habanero
- Rio Grande
- Poblano
- Paprika Supreme
- Bhut Jolokia
- Santa Fe Grande
- Scotch Bonnet
- Tiburon
Only the Elite is suitable for drying
Chilies occasionally present gardeners with dark spots and discoloration. Experienced growers know that this is not a disease or pest infestation. Rather, completely natural pigment changes are expressed. These chillies are perfectly suitable for consumption.
Nevertheless, they have no place in the dehydrator or the oven. Chillies only dry to the highest quality if they are flawless. This means that the stems have also been removed and each individual pod has been carefully cleaned.
Tips & Tricks
You should NOT dry chilies like this. A chilli enthusiast recently put 1 kilogram of pods in the microwave to dry them. This plan had dire consequences. All residents of the house ran away with watering eyes, while the fire brigade came with breathing protection. The pungent smell could only be got under control with high-performance fans. The bill for the rescue operation then brought tears to the chilli dryer in turn.
The garden journal freshness-ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- Order here cheaply as an A3 print for your kitchen
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself
