Preserving chilli peppers?

[bassmember]

Hi Ulla

Dying to know if you got anywhere with preserving chillies at all? I've got a brilliant crop of chillies and would love to do the equivalent of 'very lazy chillies' you see in jars in some shops so I can use them throughout the year. Can you help? I see you are in Edinburgh. I'm a fellow Scot-stay in a village called Drymen, Loch Lomondside.

[Morgan64]

Pat

hello ulla
i have recipes for chili jam and sweet chili sauce which i am making for the last three years. my children love the sweet chili sauce but the chili jam is usually to hot for them pm me i can write up the instruction if you want and you send an sae and i will send them off
regards nemo

Can you let me have a copy of the recipes you have for chilli jam and sweet chilli sauce. I have so many chilis and don't know what to do with them. cheers.

[buzzingtalk]

Is there a way of preserving slices/bits of chillis? I don't want to freeze them as they will go 'soft' and don't want to make jam/pickle etc. The only recipe I've found said to scrape the seeds out, and they are the best bit!

[HotStuff]

Is there a way of preserving slices/bits of chillis? I don't want to freeze them as they will go 'soft' and don't want to make jam/pickle etc. The only recipe I've found said to scrape the seeds out, and they are the best bit!

Why not just dry them whole? Then you can chop them up as you need them. String them up together using a needle and thread to make a Ristra and hang them somewhere warm and dry (I use my airing cupboard). .

[buzzingtalk]

Why not just dry them whole? Then you can chop them up as you need them. String them up together using a needle and thread to make a Ristra and hang them somewhere warm and dry (I use my airing cupboard). .

Ooooh that looks wicked! Do you just thread through any part of the chilli?

I'm struggling to think of a warm and dry place in this damn house. Its quite 'damp' and no where is really a constant temp, either its freezing and damp or the heating is on and its not. Will a kitchen windowsill do, thats the only place i think is the most constant (no airing cupboard!)

[WrexTheDragon]

I have normally just put mine in the freezer, as they cook well from frozen. This year I will put mine in the dehydrator and put the chillies through a pepper grinder.

[Buleste]

I've made some Pickled Chillies. If you soak them in brine for a few days before you pickle them (make sure you don't make any holes in the chillies though as this will fill the insides with brine and they will be very salty then) and then bottle them in brine and vinegar (with 2 holes in the chillies to let air out and the mixture in) and they should retain their colour and stay crunchy.

I've also been making Chilli Powder by drying the chillies and using a cheap coffee grinder to get the powder.