Saturday, August 1

Cheap hot peppers

Note: As always, written in response to BFP's call for recipes for healthy cooking while in poverty.

You might've already known this, but to me it was only book knowledge until recently: at least in certain climates, fresh hot peppers don't mold; they just change colors and dry out.

I can buy them and not worry about not using them in time.
Thanks, God! I like these things.
(Still can't handle the taste of more than 1, seedless & pithless, in a whole dish...but I definitely like the concept.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's safer and better to let it change color on its own, and then expedite the drying process. In sunny climes, people would lay them out in a large tray outside in direct sunlight and let them dry out (kinda like how raisins were made back in the olden days), or, the shortcut that I like is to put them in the oven (use a low temp) (as a plus, if you leave them in a little bit longer, the peppers taken on a nice, roasted aroma).

Anonymous said...

n.b.: I'm not sure peppers change colors once they've been picked from the plant.

I've always left them on the plant long enough for them to turn red in the fall, pick them, refrigerate them, and when I have accumulated enough, and oven-dry them. And if stored in a dry place, they can last long enough to get me through to the next year's batch.

Katie said...

Mine changed colors after being picked! Could've had something to do w/ how they were picked & shipped (they were grocery store peppers, not fresh-off-the-bush peppers), but they totally did. They started changing colors and started wilting about simultaneously (maybe the color thing just a bit first), and then the wilting finished, but they never molded. Amazing!

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