As I mentioned in an earlier post, we grew habanero and jalapeño chilies this year, with some success.  That makes sense, given that we are only about 30 minutes from the area where piment d’Espelette is grown.  We planted six plants, three of each kind, in a part of our garden that not only gets a lot of sun, is also enclosed between our house and a stone wall, so tends to retain heat.  Seemed like a good place to try hot chilies.  We are still harvesting chilies into October.  And believe me, these babies are hot!

So far, we have used these hot chilies fresh in salsas and stir fries, used them for making hot chili oil, and have frozen some for the winter.  We made a trial at drying chilies on a string in the same way that piment d’Espelette is dried, with mixed results;  the slender jalapeños dried nicely, but the fatter habaneros tended to mildew before they were fully dry.

Here is an easy method for drying chilies in the oven that takes the guesswork out of the process.

1. Wash the chilies and remove the stem.  Split in half the lengthwise.  Do not remove the seeds, as the dried seeds are great for seasoning as well and hotter than the flesh.
2. Heat the oven to 175 degrees F.  Check this temperature with a thermometer, as many oven thermostats are not very accurate at the own end and too high a heat during drying will make your chilies bitter.
3. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Arrange the chilies, cut side up, in  a single layer.  Put into the oven.  Put the handle of a wooden spoon into the door of the oven so that it is just barely cracked.
4. Bake the chilies until fully dried. This should take 2-4 hours, depending on size and thickness of the chilies. They will turn very red, then continue to darken to an intense black-red. During the baking, check the oven temperature every 30 minutes or so to make sure it has not changed.
5. Let the dry chilies cool completely.  Use a mortar and pistil to crush the chilies to the size of red chili flake. Store in an airtight container.

Here is a garland of fresh chili peppers ready for drying, hung on the front of our house in imitation of the method used for making Piment d’Espelette. Fresh hot peppers are not that easy to find in a Orthez, as the French taste in spicy food runs to the mild side.  So we decided to grow our own jalapeno and habanero chilies – these are the jalapenos. We tasted a slice of the first of each kind that we picked and they didn’t seem super hot. So I happily chopped up a whole one of each to add to a salsa.  Wow, they were a lot hotter than they seemed!  Anyway, we are now picking plenty for use fresh and some left to dry for later.