How to Make an Air Dried Chili Pepper Garland

Anaheim chili peppers are a garden staple at my house. These large, mild chilis are perfect for making chili rellenos or for chopping up and adding to any one of our favorite Tex Mex dishes.

When Anaheim chili peppers are green, they are called a chili verde which means green chili. As they mature and age, the green skin turns a fiery red and the Anaheim chili becomes a chili colorado or red chili. No matter what color you prefer, Anaheim chili peppers can add both color and a rich flavor to Mexican and Cajun dishes.

While chilis can be either frozen or canned, the more traditional way of preserving chili peppers is by stringing them onto a garland and letting them air dry. Depending on the weather conditions, chili pepper ordinarily dry in one to two weeks. Here's how it's done:

1. Cut a piece of cotton twine to a length of several feet. Tie a knot on one end.

2. Thread the other end of the string onto a clean tapestry or upholstery needle.

3. Press the tip of the needle through the center of the pepper and push the needle through to the other end.

4. Pull the pepper towards the knotted end, and repeat until all the peppers have been strung.

5. Tie the two ends of the string together.

6. Hang the looped string in a sunny window or outdoors in a protected area. Arrange the peppers so they are alternate between facing up and facing down.

7. Occasionally rotate the peppers on the string until completely dry.

8. After the peppers have thoroughly dried, push the peppers together. You can now shorten up the string to create a garland that you can hang as a decoration in your kitchen.

To use the dried Anaheim peppers in cooking instead of just a pretty decoration, there are several options you can try. At our house, I grind up the dried chili pepper, seeds and all using a mortar and pestle. Once reduced to a powdered form, the chili peppers can be used exactly the same way that you might use a commercial chili powder.

If your family likes ground red peppers on their pizzas, a coarse grind can be achieved by running the pepper through the blender on the "chop" position. These coarsely ground peppers can also be added to soups, stews, and casseroles and will rehydrate during the cooking process.