¡Muchos Serranos!

[SheilaAnn]

Can anyone advise on drying them? I have the brevillle toaster oven withe the dehydrate setting.

[HawkerXP]

This is how I do it.

[Johnny Booth]

But would work for peppers too. 😎

[SheilaAnn]

Those are some weird looking chilis…..

[WI Bubba]

Ah...The very chill chilies. They go well with most anything.

[Johnny Booth]

I have a dehydrator as well. Dry them at 125-150 until they crack when squeezed. If you don’t use the seeds, you can cut them in half to get rid of them. This will speed up drying.

If there is any moisture they will mold when stored. I store dried produce in glass jars with a couple of those plastic silica disks (food safe). We do bananas, pineapple, mango, figs, and peppers in the dehydrator when we have too much to give away.

I have also dried them by mistake on the counter in a bowl. 😁 As long as the environment is dry with air movement to prevent mold, they will dry. I think stringing them together by the stems and hanging them in a dry place with a small fan would work too.

[CaptainMike]

Hit Goodwill for a dehydrator. Low temp smoke them for a couple or three hours, dehydrate then use at your discretion. I found a dehydrator at GW for $20 bucks-ish quite a few years ago and have used the heck out of it. As far as quality it's a piece of crap, but it has been a little workhorse for over 10 years.

[Santamarina]

I’ve always halved them - at least - to dry in a warm convection oven. When I dry chiles it’s always been to make chile powder, so I’ve never been concerned with the shape/condition the full pod post-drying.

Though I must admit I’ve dried a few whole chiles on the counter…uumm…accidentally.

[Johnny Booth]

yeah, I’ve done them “on the counter” but they still work. 😎

[Finster]

the few times I've dried peppers, I hung them in a ristra...

[Johnny Booth]

There you go getting all fancy. HawkerXP shows us the right way to do a rista. 👍

[Alan Brice]

What kind of volume are you looking at?
I had some Lil red hotties given to me and I just topped both ends and let them sit inside on a paper plate, in the sun.
Just ground seeds and all yesterday and the resulting chili powder is quite nice and flavorful.

[CaptainMike]

Side note - Rena is making some cookies today from a recipe Kim gave her in Lafayette.

[Alan Brice]

CaptainMike I would have to guess it is the cake mix box cookies?
Try the Spice cake mix with butterscotch chips or lemon cake mix with Premier White Chocolate chips and add lemon zest to the mix. Wow!

[SheilaAnn]

I have a couple dozen…,

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I smoke on my pellet grill at 180 for a few hours then at sub 150 for 12+. Oven on convection for a few hours is faster but I like the smoke.

[Alan Brice]

I never gave the smoke a thought as an option. I did them orig to give chili pdr to the one that gave me the peppers.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Alan Brice you just have to be careful not to cook them, they need enough heat at the start to evaporate and the main chamber on the MAK has more airflow than the super smoker box so I have to get it just right so they aren't cooked but that they are also dry. An hour or so on smoke and then the oven will do the trick too, but then your house will smell like smokey peppers (doesn't bother me one bit but some people might not be a fan)

[texastweeter]

Can't in half, set to 130ish and let her rip till crispy