Drying Seasoning Peppers

Drying peppers is another natural way of preserving flavor. In the garden, peppers ripen all at the same time, and it can be difficult to use that harvest all at once. My dad has experimented with many simple techniques for drying his hot pepper crop in the sun.

Here’s his method: He slices the peppers in half, removes most (but not all) of the seeds, and lays them on a repurposed screen door, set on cement blocks, in the sunlight. He leaves them there for 5 days, taking them in at night to avoid moisture from the dew. He’s been known to use a dehydrator to make sure they’re really dry (and says since it’s faster and less work, he may do it all in a dehydrator next year). He then grinds the dried peppers in a blender and stores them in jars. Cooking with these dried peppers—and sprinkling on their warmth as a finishing touch—has become essential to me.