What To Do With Your Pepper Harvest

Dry those hot peppers! Hot peppers vary tremendously in size, shape, color, and pungency or heat. They can be eaten fresh, used in sauces, pickled, frozen or dried. Drying peppers is a simple procedure. Harvest mature peppers, (the fruit of most varieties turn from green to red at maturity)wash to remove any dirt, then allow the fruit to dry for a few minutes on the kitchen counter. Take a large needle and heavy thread. Thread the needle, then push the needle through the upper portion of a pepper; slide the pepper down the thread and repeat, stringing additional peppers. Hang and dry the peppers in a warm, dry, well-ventilated location. The dried peppers may be ground as needed. Hot peppers vary from mild (False alarm) to very hot (habanera and Scotch bonnet)