Drying Aleppo Chiles I dry much of my chile crop each year. Generally I just pop them into my electric dehydrator and let it run non-stop until they are dry. This year I'm being a little more environmentally conscious and am putting them out to dry in the sun. I don't have anything fancy like drying racks, just a few heavy duty paper plates that I can easily move. The biggest drawback to this method is that I occasionally forget to bring them in at night and the next morning they are soaked with dew from our cool moist nights. It takes much longer for them to dry but I feel good about using a little less power from the grid.
I forget to bring mine in too so i string them and hang them up in the house OR lay them in a wide basket and put them on the widow sill OR on top of the radiator if its on. Dry fastest above the radiator in a basket without any sun damage too so they keep their colour.
ReplyDeleteI'm still schlepping them in and out every day, but I have moved on to a new improvised rack. I put my wire cooling rack for baking on a rimmed baking sheet and put the chiles on that. It's larger than a plate and affords better air circulation. The chiles have been drying more quickly. I haven't noticed any sun damage, which I guess is because the sun isn't as intense at this time of year. They do seem to get darker (is that considered sun damage?), but I like that.
ReplyDeleteI was searching for a source for aleppo pepper seeds and stumbled across your posting and beautiful picture. I also dry a lot of chiles, but my husband, the family chef, still goes back to the Penzey's aleppo pepper when he cooks. Could you tell me where you found the aleppo seeds? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJoli Munch
Bellevue, NE
Joli, I've never found a source for Aleppo seeds but I did find one online chile grower who offers the live plants - thechilewoman.com. That's where my one plant came from.
ReplyDelete