drying chillies

tetley · « **on:** July 05, 2007, 13:22 »

I went to someones house the other day and spied a kilner jar full of dried red chillies. I was going to ask how she dried them, but got sidetracked and forgot.
I put a couple in the fridge the other day, went to use them and they had gone all soggy....how do you store them? and how do I dry chillies?

sorrel · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2007, 14:36 »

I dry mine in the airing cupboard - or i have done them on a large flat tray in the conservatory (I turn them every couple of days) - one to two weeks and they are done

GrannieAnnie · « **Reply #2 on:** July 05, 2007, 14:40 »

I strung some on some string and hung them on the cupboar doors in the utility room, but usually I either freeze them, or chop them up and cook them with some tomatoes or passata, and keep them in jars. Not whole chillies I know, but handy to put a spoonful in with any recipe you like!!!

tetley · « **Reply #3 on:** July 05, 2007, 14:55 »

thankyou, will have a go
can I freeze them whole then? do I just pop them in a bag and then in the freezer, simple as that?

vegging out · « **Reply #4 on:** July 05, 2007, 22:17 »

I freeze mine in an ice cream tub,makes it easy to use them as you need and they don't stick together or tie them to string and hang them in the kitchen to dry..

GrannieAnnie · « **Reply #5 on:** July 05, 2007, 22:20 »

Some I've frozen whole, others chopped up first, but of course, once defrosted, you can't eat them as you would fresh ones. I've also got some pickled in white vinegar, and put a load of cayenne chillies in a bottle of Olive Oil. boy is it hot!!!! Oh decided to pep up my chillie one day, so he put some of the oil in with the meat, AND he put some dried chillies in it too!!!!!! It was so hot, he had trouble eating it!!!!!

Serves him right!!!

seadart · « **Reply #6 on:** July 05, 2007, 23:42 »

They are very easy to dry on strings in the kitchen and they look quite pretty to!

Annie · « **Reply #7 on:** July 06, 2007, 10:03 »

I dry them on strings then blitz them,they still look good in jars one red one green to add sparingly to cooking.Just a word of warning if you do blitz dried chillies put a damp tea towel over your processor to ensure none of the chilli flies out.

ytyynycefn · « **Reply #8 on:** July 08, 2007, 20:26 »

Quote from: "tetley"

thankyou, will have a go
can I freeze them whole then? do I just pop them in a bag and then in the freezer, simple as that?

I do just that - fill a freezer bag as they become ready, and then just bung em in sauces, blitz them with tomatoes, whatever you'd do with a fresh one. Seems to work well enough for us

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