Preserving Your Chillies - Air Drying

chillies, will,

OK. You've managed to grow a successful crop of chillies for yourself but now you have a problem. Well, not really a problem; more a challenge.

What can I do to preserve my chillies so that I can use them all year round? Fortunately people have been faced with this problem for thousands of years. As a result there are a number of solutions that you can use. Some of them ancient, some of them quite modern.

This ezine article will examine, in detail, the process of dehydrating chillies with an electric dehydrator.

However, before you start, there are a few basics that we need to cover to help you get the most out of your garden and the harvested fruit.

1) It is universally agreed that the best approach to harvesting your chillies is what is known as a 'staggered harvest'. No - you don't have to be drunk. What it means is that you harvest the chillies a number of times throughout the growing season. This will ensure you maximize the production from your plants. If the chillies are left on, the plant believes it has achieved it's reproductive goals and few new fruit will be produced. Staggered harvesting ensures that the plant 'keeps on trying' for the full length of the growing season.

2) Unless you are specifically after green chillies, the best approach is to harvest ripe fruit with tight, shiny skins that are firm to the touch. Fruit that are ready should come off the plant easily. If you need to use any force it's probably best to leave it a few days before trying again.

3) Give the fruit a wash and have a second look to weed out any fruit that have black spots as these will usually rot and/or go moldy.

OK, so you've decided to go the traditional route and air dry your chillies. Great.

The string of chillies known as a ristra is the most traditional and best known method for air drying chillies.

Fortunately they are a great way of both drying and storing your chillies.

Before you start, make sure you are not trying to dry any of the thicker fleshed varieties such as Jalapenos , Roccotos, or some of the New Mexico varieties.

If you do want to dry these varieties, you need to use the dehydrator technique (that's another article). Also, you need to make sure you are living in an arid environment.

Proper drying will simply not occur in the tropics.

4) The more traditional, Mexican method is done as follows. Start by wrapping some string around three individual chilli stems twice, then bring the string up between two of the chillies and finish off with a half-hitch (or granny knot) over the stems. Using the same piece of string, continue tying up groups of three chillies until it gets too awkward to handle.

At that point you can simply start again. To make a half metre ristra will require around 4 kilograms of fresh chillies.

or

You can use the far less traditional, but faster and easier technique.

Using a large needle threaded with string or 50lb fishing line, push the needle through the base or widest part of the stem, pushing the chillies up tightly against each other.

Ristras made by this technique tend to look thinner than the traditional method. Tying two or three of these ristras together will get around this.

This is also the easiest way to handle smaller chiles such as cayennes or piquins, which require a lot of time and effort to hang in the traditional way.

5) Hang your chilli ristra outside somewhere where it will get some airflow. Check it every now and again and remove any chillies that look like they are beginning to rot. There is always some.

Hanging it outside is the best option for a number of reasons;

* they will dry faster and better

* if any of the chillies do begin to rot they frequently drip a sticky substance that can stain pretty much anything

* one rotting chilli will draw those sticky little fruit flies (sometimes called vinegar flies) by the millions

6) when you need a chilli, simply snap it off at the stem and use your dried chillies.

You have two main options here.

First, you can grind the chillies to flakes or powder when required. Use a coffee grinder, food processor, or mortar and pestle to grind them down to the size that you're after. CAUTION - take care not to get chilli powder in your eyes or lungs!

Secondly, they can he rehydrated by simply soaking it hot water for 10 minutes. They are then ready for use.