Pattypan's Pantry Projects Stringing my Chillies

I came across a few more chillies on offer and so decided to take advantage of the find and string a few more chiillies for drying and using in my home made preserves.  Once strung I then hang them off the dressers to dry and then once dry decant into a clean airtight jar.

They are quite easy to string.  However please wear latex gloves or clean rubber gloves for processing as the hot part of the chillies transfers to the skin and it can "burn".  I found this out the hard way and have made sure that I have been "gloved" up since whenever handling chillies!  Chilli burn is not a pleasant experience.

However, I then realised that I had left my large sewing bodkin in my basics sewing tin at the caravan.  OH is going there today in any event and I am going to get on at the house whilst he is away. So I could not get to stringing my chillies first thing as planned, which is no great shakes as I have lots of stuff to do.  So I did this later on.

First of all put your gloves on.

Then measure your string a lot longer than the area you are going to hang it up from and cut it.  Mine is for the top of a dresser which has cup hooks from which to hang the string.

Take a large eyed needle I use a large Bodkin and then stick it through the top of a chilli through the thick part.  I sometimes make an eye looped knot to hang up one end of the chilli rope which also stops the first chilli coming off.  I then make a knot in the string and then work on the next chilli in the same manner; if the string is a long one I just thread the chillies on as I have found that the long string can knot up quite badly if you try and tie the knot and so I just shove them together and then space them out individually once they are all threaded on.  If you do not have enough to load the string, make a loop so that you can hang the string in the meantime and go and buy a few more then add them to the string until completed.

Whilst they are drying they give a blast of colour to the top of the dresser.  Sometimes I leave them on the garland and use as a decoration however at other times I also take them, off and store them in a glass jar.  I predominantly use dried chillies in my Pickled Onions and Shallots.

This time round I ended up with some green chillies as well.  I have laid them out on a tray and left the in the windowsill to ripen.  When they are to my liking, I shall then string them onto a separate cord and then hang hem up to dry.  Chillies are always useful.  

Once dried you can use the chillies whole.  In the past I have tended to buy the smaller red chillies and dried them and then just put an individual chilli in with my pickled onions.

As the chillies are a lot larger this time I shall break them into segments and then add them to the pickled onions.

You can blitz them in the food processor and break down into a powder for adding to dishes in powdered form.  I do sieve these though.

I also make Chilli Jam, Chilli Jelly both of which are good with crackers and cheese.

So even from something that does not look very big, with the addition of other ingredients you can make something very useful for the pantry shelf especially if you can get the chillies at a reduced price.

Explore the reduced section next time you go into the supermarket you might be surprised at what you can find there.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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