String chili peppers to dry.
Strands of dried chili peppers, known as ristras, provide a burst of color to southwestern decor, and are also a practical way to store dried chilies until you're ready to use them in soups, stews and, of course, chili. Though you can string almost any pepper, the peppers in ristras are traditionally green chilies that have been allowed to ripen to a rich red. You can string when they're ripe and allow them to dry naturally. Chili ristras also make a practical and attractive gift.
Instructions
1. Pick up three chili peppers and place them with their stems together. Wrap cotton string around the stems and knot. Bring the thread down between two of the three chilies, then back up and knot it again.
2. Continue to tie chilies together in bunches of three, leaving about four inches of string between each bunch. Wrap all the chilies in your bushel. Cut the string, leaving 4 inches at the end.
3. Cut a piece of twine approximately 2.5 feet long. Tie a peg to one end of the string. This keeps the chilies from slipping off the end of the twine. Tie the other end of the twine around a doorknob.
4. Wrap the set of three chilies on the end of the cotton string around the twine, just above the wooden peg. Wrap the string tightly around the twine. Arrange the chilies so that they wrap around the twine.
5. Continue to wrap the tied chili peppers around the twine. Wrap the string tightly and push the chilies as close together on the twine as possible. They shrink slightly as they dry.
6. Hang your chili ristra from a stout nail or hook on the wall and allow to dry. The undried ristra is heavy, so make sure your nail is in a stud. To use the peppers, snip one off with a pair of scissors.
Tags: chili peppers, around twine, chilies that, cotton string,
