Chilli drying - Chillis dried using wasted heat from a monitor

Step 5 Store those nice dry chillies

Put them in an air tight bag or box. After removing all that water, you don't want it rushing straight back into the chillies!

What to do with dry chillies;

• Rehydrate. Place a dry chilli in warm water and leave for 20-30 minutes. You can then chop it up as you would a fresh one.
• Crush the dry chillies into flakes. These are great for sprinkling into sauces or onto food. The super hot epithelial membranes will have dried onto the seeds. It's up to you whether or not to leave the seeds in your flake mixture. Flakes can also be used in bird feeders to keep squirrels away. Birds are insensitive to the heat, so happily eat the nuts and seeds. Squirrels experience the same heat sensations that we do.
• Powder the dry chillies for your own cayenne pepper seasoning

Comments

[salvia71]

do you think this would work for tomatoes ?

[tz1_1zt]

Hello. It works with oranges and apples as well as chiilis. I see no reason why it would not work with tomatoes as well. You would need to take precautions against juice dripping into the device, perhaps use a thick aluminium foil disposable BBQ tray. Good luck with that, if it works please post some photos and advice in a follow up comment. Regards, tz1_1zt

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

i think a tomatoe is so incredibly watery it would leak into the monitor and kill it

[Mr E Man]

I want one of ur Thermometers thats cool. Where'd you get it? I'm growing 3 types of chilli's, and plenty of herbs. And being a computer tech, I have plenty of herb and chilli drying space. So thanks for pointing out that herb dryers are a waste of money, Plus the house now smells like basil, thyme, oregano, and chilli's.

[tz1_1zt]

The thermometer is a are great toy, I zap everything to see how hot it is. Have a google for "infra red thermometer", or check eBay where there are thousands. I picked up mine in a sale at Maplin, but they are just in the UK. The consumer versions (like my one) are cheap these days. Glad the chilli drying is working for you as well. It's such a simple idea, I discovered it by accident when I misplaced a small orange ;-)