Does anyone dry their own chillis?? - need help/ideas if you do
I have Thai and another couple small red ones types of chillis and no worries. I put them on a tray up high and leave them for a while.
When they are dry, I split each one to make sure there is no purple fungus in side. i saw a show once and they told me that fungus is real bad for
you.
Anyway.................
I have some WONDERFUL habanero chillis.
MAN are they hot.
the problem is i cant dry them. They start to rot before they dry up??
Does anyone know a better way to do this.
I use crushed dry chillis on just about every thing. Go through a large jar every six weeks or so.
Would LOVE to have dried habanero chilli though :cry
HELP :P
could u not rig up some kind of smoker apparatus>?
a freind of mine made one ussing the inside of an old clothes drier. low slow burning low heat fire. high shelf for your chillis?
the reason they rot would be because of exposure to moisture which is getting in before the jalepenos can dry.
so if u take the waiting out of it then they have less exposure to moisture and shouldnt rot.
only thing i can thinkof would be choice of fire fodder. make sure u dont use somehting pungent etc or it will ruin the flavour.
also what about baking them>?
man you most be part mexican
Sun dried?
Sun drying is sort of what i am doing.
I have had a BRILLIANT year growing chillis - but the season is just fininshing and there aint much sun.
These are golf ball sized chillis and take a while to dry
Too quick in an oven and you more cook them than dry them.
The small ones dry happily on the tray - but it still takes weeks.
Anthiron - what was you mate doing with the smoker?? meats??
in the oven at low temp - 50 -60 oC or so.
Why not preserve them in olive oil instead of drying them?.
I usually cut Habenero chillis in half and leave them a plate with paper towel underneath. Sprinkle a little bit of salt over the chillis and cover
with some paper towel to be left overnight. The following morning, put the chillis in a jar of olive oil and they will keep for years (or weeks
depending on how much you eat). The best thing with this method is that as you use the chillis, you can use the oil for cooking as well (it retains
some heat from the chillis).
- Adam (1/2 mexican, 1/2 indian & 1/2 way to the loo!!:bounce)
used the smoker to make some killer beef jerky man that was some good stuff.
anthirons answer is the only way smoke em to dry em as they are too thick.
as notch nut says preserve in oil, vinegar or the likes is good as an ulternative.
watch your eyes:cry:cry
cant you dry them in a very low oven with the oven door open?
usually takes about 24 hours but it works (havent tried it with chillis, but it seems to work really well with mushrooms 
)
or you could fork out for one of those dehydrating thingies... (sorta look like a small barrel oven thing with grilles inside where you place the
food... used lots for drying fruit like apples)
Needle and thread and hang em in a sunny spot.,Thread needle through bit of stem at top of chilli. When needed soak chilli in water for 1hr.
Think i have 9 types of Chilli growing . Jalapeno, Habanero, Siam, Birdseye,Inferno,Cayenne,Yellow hotwax, Hungarian Hot and Ebony Fire.
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[ Edited on 4-6-2006 by empi ]
Invest $100 or so in a dehydrator?
Empi, how are you growing your chilis? do they fruit through the winter, are they annuals or perenials?
We have one lonely looking little habanero plant...got 5 chilis off it so far 
I was thinking about getting hold of a cheapy glass house to try and grow them through the winter.
Here Barry, http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pepper/2002102840006316.html
Man - heaps of answers!! Great Stuff
Didnt realize us dubbers are as chilli mad as me!
bill - great site. Will start reading after the soccer!
Starbug - i aint even gunna comment on the mushrooms ('cept blue meanies or goldies??)
Hipichick - where do you buy those dehydrators from??
Adam - i do the oil and chillis as well. Brilliant with cheese and red wine!!
any appliance store should have them, the one I used was stackable....i can't think of the brand though.
Heres one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SUNBEAM-HEALTHY-FOOD-DEHYDRATOR_W0QQitemZ4466802050QQc...
you guys must be chilli nuts the only way i can eat them is in chilli soup etc . my peacocks eat the dang things whole off the tree pick the trees clean .doesnt seam to worry them at all but was wondering why they steam from the rear end in this cold weather :P
How about a small wooden box with a light globe mounted inside it, as the light globe would generate a modest amount of heat. then put the chillis on a tray inside the box.
Hmmmm.... think i will just get one of those dehydrator thingies
did it recently. I just put them in a sunny spot in the kitchen and turn them every so often. worked fine.
Pete - how big were they??
That method works fine for my smaller firey thai chillis but is not working for my Jalapenos
how do u keep the fruit flies away?
If the chillis are rotting before they dry, consider slicing them open. Then you could remove the seeds from some and then make dried seed powder for
those special occasions when you want super heat.
This reminds me of the day I move into Brighton in Melbourne and on the first Saturday morning I was shopping in a green grocery. I was into hot
chliis then and asked the grocer if he had really hot chilis. He showed me the ones on display. I ate one and asked for hotter. He went into the back
of the store and brought out a big wrinkly red chilli. I qualed at the sight of it but ate it with steam coming out of my ears, sweat pouring off my
forehead and my eyes bugging out like organ stops. He finished up rolling on his shop floor, holding his sides and shreiking with laughter. All I
wanted was some relief from the pain, but I finished it, all the while saying how sweet and delicious it was and asked him if that was the best he
could do. He gave me a big bunch of grapes to cool my mouth down. I bought some chilis and preserved them in olive oil. They were the best chilis I
have ever eaten. From then on, every time I went into that shop the grocer would greet me with a bunch of grapes and a big smile.
Yeah ! super hot thats the way , my Habaneros can almost strip paint of my car they are that hot.
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you people are insane... chiili = cullinary murder!
i'd like to know what person came up with the idea of eating chilli's...
they burn the mouth, throat and stomach, sting the eyes, and leave you with a 'bali belly'... sounds tempting guys!
want the same sensation with no drying nexessary... watch the da vinci code movie.
Empi
do you slice them when you hang them up??
capascin is 7 times more addictive than the heroin, 49 times of opium.
capascin is the source of the heat. the seeds are not hot. the seeds often are coated in capascin from their proximity to the veins.
you want hot? remove justt he veins from the chili and eat them alone.
Nope , just thread through the greeny stem bit at the top of the chilli and hang. i have some real good chilli website addreses on my other computer
will post later on.
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Great thread!
yes its the endorphins that are realease to cope with the pain that is addictive.
I used to eat alot of phalls when in the UK. Hotter than vindaloo. Had a few occasions when I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Also new someoone at college who told the local indian restaurant that he wanted a hot curry, giving it the big one. They said he could have it for
free if he could eat it all. Bad mistake.
I have also heard that some really hot chillis will make you go temporaly blind and death as you senses are in overload.
You don't really get that hot a curry in OZ. But I am still a bit scared to ask for it hotter. lol
I have got into more flavoursome currys now I am older, but still enjoy a bit of heat
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the head chef where i work is an indian man.
every second friday nite we have an indian nite.
about 5 or 6 different hot dishes like butter chicken, vindaloo, masala some lentil currys etc and its a buffet which is great because the staff get
to take some of the left overs:bounce