Friday, October 17, 2008

Drying Chilis

I have not tried canning yet, but my nod towards lengthening the "local" season consisted of drying my own chilis. I had some poblano peppers (which are renamed ancho chilis), cayenne peppers, and small, red hot peppers.

To dry them, heat oven to 170F. Place the peppers on a stone or tray in the oven. The small peppers dried out overnight, but the poblanos took all night and all the next day. I flipped the poblanos halfway through.

chili drying 1
Washed and dried before oven

chili drying 2
Partially dried

chili drying 3
Smaller peppers done; gave the poblanos more time

dried ancho

colored chilis

Do you say chili or chilli or chile? Ah the mysteries of the universe...

5 comments:

Stacey Snacks said...

Love the photos and the little baby chilis all lined up in a row!

Chef E said...

In the south and Mexico they say- Chiles...

Chef E said...

Also there is a great chef in Texas named Stephen Pyles, and he write great books on cooking the chiles, and a friend of mine.

Anonymous said...

this is such a helpful post. i actually never considered drying my own since we can get packs of all different types of chiles i our local store for about $1 per pack. but this technique will be remembered for years to come!

Christo Gonzales said...

chile is the fruit and chili is the dish....and or country....