Dried and Smoked Peppers

I recently harvested my first, and only, crop of hot peppers (for more on my crop, check out the post at Gardener to Farmer). As you can see, quite a few of them ripened at the same time. I thought about a couple of storage options, like freezing, or canning, but I settled on drying...and while I could have dried them in the oven, I decided to smoke them over indirect heat on my Kettle Grill.

I put it on a low, indirect heat...wasn't over 250 at its hottest. Then, I had to replenish it once. All in all, the peppers were on there for maybe three hours. It is important to keep the vent relatively closed in order to control temperature and capture the smoke.

And when I was finished, I had some gorgeous peppers...smokey, yummy and preserved for future use. I think I will grind some of them and use it in recipes...others I might save an reconstitute this winter, or add a couple of whole peppers to a chili recipe.

Have you smoked any of your garden harvests this year? Let me know how it worked...

Comments

[Colleen/FoodieTots]

Ooh - those look delicious!

[Maggie]

This is a great idea! I didn't grow any hot peppers this year but the farm stand down the street has a ton.