Chilis are the smallest members of the pepper and hot pepper family. The hot pods give dishes a fiery note and are important components of seasoning mixtures such as the well-known Tabasco sauce. You can harvest the spice in your own garden from July to September and use our suggestions to preserve it for many months.
How to preserve chilies?
Chilis can be preserved in various ways: 1) freeze after blanching and remove seeds, 2) air dry, in a dehydrator or in the oven and 3) soak in oil after blanching in a vinegar-water solution Mixture.
Variant 1: Freeze chili
If you always need small amounts of chili, you can store the prepared pods in the freezer:
- Halve the chillies, remove seeds and wash.
- Blanch briefly in hot water.
- Place individually on a plate and freeze.
- Pour the frozen chilies into a freezer bag and close tightly.
Variant 2: Drying chilies
Peppers drying on long lines may be familiar to many from Mexican films. You can also preserve your own harvest in this way:
- Wash the chillies briefly and dry them.
- Put a sturdy thread through the stem of the pod.
- Hang in an airy place. Make sure that the chilies do not touch each other.
If you have a dehydrator, you can use it to preserve the hot spice. The required drying time at 70 degrees Celsius depends on the thickness of the chilies. For Habaneros it is around ten hours, for fleshy pods such as Jalapeño or Rocoto it is twelve hours.
Oven drying
- First wash the chili peppers, halve them and remove the seeds.
- Line a baking tray covered with a breathable cloth.
- Set the temperature to 60 degrees and dry the chilies for 8 to 10 hours.
- Keep the oven door open with a wooden spoon so that the moisture can escape.
You can grind the dried pods coarsely into chili flakes or finely into chili powder in the food processor.
Variant 3: Put chilies in oil
Ingredients
- Chili peppers
- 1 liter of water
- 200 ml vinegar
- 20 g s alt
- 10 g sugar
- high quality oil, for example first pressing olive oil
Preparation
- Wash the chillies, halve them and remove the seeds.
- Bring 1 liter of water to the boil. Add vinegar, s alt and sugar.
- Simmer the chili peppers gently in the mixture for two to five minutes.
- Strain and dry on a kitchen towel.
- Pour into clean glasses so that they are 90 percent full.
- Fill with oil and close.
- The chili oil lasts for about six months when stored in the refrigerator.
Tip
Always wear gloves when working with chilies. If the spice juice gets into a small wound, it burns like hell. Be careful not to accidentally touch your face or even your eyes.
