Hot Pepper Strands

This is the part of the year where I turn into a crazy person and start thinking about Christmas. Not, you know, where I’m going to put my Christmas tree or what kind of lights I’m going to buy. I’m not that nuts.

But this is the time of year when I start canning and preserving so that stocking stuffers are cheaper and half of it’s done by the time Christmas rolls around. And you get to give the gift of fresh produce in December.

When my sister called the other day and I told her I was drying peppers for stockings for Jordans family she simply said 

"Oh, your one of those people now" 

That scares me a bit. 

So this isn’t a recipe so much as a technique. Traditionally when making pepper strands you tie them with string, but I have found this to be very laborious and not very effective (read: after an hour of tying them last year I picked up the whole strand and every single pepper fell off in a splash of red). So I learnt that cheaters have tools- needles and thread.

With this method this couldn’t really be easier. You simply thread a needle, tie one side up and thread the peppers through. The only thing that can get finicky is that the peppers have a tendancy to not go all the way down, so make sure as you thread them they push down all the way or you’ll have a long and sparse looking pepper strand. But that’s it!

Pepper Strands

Needle

Thread

1lb peppers, I used ring of fire peppers, but birds eye chilis would also be a good substitute

thread the needle with at least 1/2 meter of thread

tie a knot at one end

Thread the peppers through the stem, one at a time being careful to push them all the way through so they are stacked tight.

When your finished tie a loop at the top with the extra thread and hang to dry.

They will last at least a year.