[titch]

Need to harvest my peppers as they are pretty big - they are green at the moment - how do i get them to turn red/yellow/orange - green ones do not digest well in our house :shock:  

 chilli's, need to harvest them but how to store them - freeze, or dry?
instructions or directions to right pages needed please, for both methods if poss would like to give them both a go

thank you and apologies if the answers are already here but have hubby to look after and house like a bomb site and visitors to see him so dont have time to sit and  search.
ta

[abraidwood]

I prefer freezing my chillis, but drying (slowly in a cool/warm oven after a roast dinner) worked when I tried it.

Try doing some each way & see which you prefer - either method should mean they keep a long time.

[Lardman]

Chilli peppers.

Dry - A fan oven at 40-50degs C.  for an hour or 2, split the larger ones to speed up the process. You can then either leave them or while they're still warm and brittle power/flake them.

Freeze -Spicy ice cubes, slice the pepper as you would if you were using them - put them in an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze. When you want to use them just pop the cube in the pan. It saves messing around trying to cut/prepare frozen peppers.

Be careful drying and flaking the hotter peppers, it can be a little....  well you'll see.  

[gobs]

Need to harvest my peppers as they are pretty big - they are green at the moment - how do i get them to turn red/yellow/orange - green ones do not digest well in our house :shock:  

Nothing really, keep them on room temperature - unless your house is very cold - and wait. I use the kitchen, so they don't dehydrate that fast.

[titch]

Be careful drying and flaking the hotter peppers, it can be a little.... well you'll see.  

did you mean chili up the nose :?: boy thats fun, fiery stuff :twisted:  :oops:

will wear micheal jackson style mask next time - thanks for the heads up :roll:

[banf77]

And definately be careful at toilet time, unless you have washed your hands thoroughly before!!    :oops:

Steve

[Mellibelle]

Yep, I'm off out to pick sweet peppers this morning!
When I had the Rayburn, I dried the hot chillis by making them into a chain, sewing coarse thread through the point where the stem meets the fruit and then hanging them up.
Hot Wax peppers we de-seed, slice and freeze in a big bag.  Very handy for grabbing a handful or two when making goulash, etc.  Now doing the same with hot chillis, although I don't use a handful in a curry!
A couple of years ago the Hot Wax were hotter than usual.  Great flavour, but my hands burned for days and the skin started to go a bit strange.
Best to wear gloves, but I find they make me fumble-fingered with a knife, so I leave them off.  I found that just washing your hands thoroughly (even several times!) doesn't remove the capsaicin, it sticks!  Try something like oiling your hands before washing them, and if they're burning, dip them in milk, oil them or rub some yoghurt on.  I'm going to try giving my hands a light oiling before processing these to see if it makes a difference.

[tracy-fuerteventura]

for the last few years i have had sooo many chillies that i couldnt be bother drying them so now i have a big grip lock freezer bag and as soon as i harvest them they get washed,dried and chucked in the freezer bag ..
had no problems when using them and they are easier to chop when frozen
cheers tracy

[titch]

ooh, will try the bag idea when we harvest the rest.

the flaked ones smell lovely , cant wait to use them

[John]

There's info on drying and freezing etc in the info section:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment_foods/index.php

We just string the chilli's, hang them up and they dry. Then store in a cool dark place. Sweet peppers we freeze.

[Fat Hen]

Chilli peppers.

Dry - A fan oven at 40-50degs C.  for an hour or 2, split the larger ones to speed up the process. You can then either leave them or while they're still warm and brittle power/flake them.

Freeze -Spicy ice cubes, slice the pepper as you would if you were using them - put them in an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze. When you want to use them just pop the cube in the pan. It saves messing around trying to cut/prepare frozen peppers.

Be careful drying and flaking the hotter peppers, it can be a little....  well you'll see.  

I prefer to freeze chillis, de-seeded & cut in half.  They defrost extremeley quickly, they are easy to chop partially frozen (what they'll be by the time you get from freezer to work surface.  If you freeze as ice cubes they'll be useless for stir frying without a lot of mucking about.