Peppers, Peppers, Peppers

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I've been hanging out in my kitchen quite a bit lately.  Partly because my garden is being fruitful and partly because there's a ton of good fruit out there in farmer's markets and the grocery store. 

I wanted to update everyone on our red chili pepper plant.  The little sucker was producing in droves, but has kinda slowed down for a bit.  Probably because of this crazy heat.  However, if he's anything like our last one, I know there will be another huge burst at the end of summer. 

What I like to do with these peppers is dry them and then, later on, make them crushed red pepper flakes.  You know, that stuff people like to sprinkle on their pizza to spice it up?  At least, that's David's favorite thing to put on his pizza.

To start this process with our peppers, I need to dry them.  I started out with a needle, thread and one of the peppers.  I poked the needle through the base of the stem, then wrapped the thread around the stem, then poked through the base of the stem again.  It's kind of hard to see, but here's what it looked like.

 

After the first one is knotted, you just start going through your pile and hook the stems through the base of their stem.

After a while, it looks nice with a pretty even line of peppers falling to each side.

After I had gone through my whole pile, I loosely knotted the top and hung the peppers in my dining room to dry.  This way, I can loosen the knot when I get more and add them to the already semi-dry, older peppers.  Towards the end of the summer, I'll crush them all and contain them in something.  In the meantime, I think they're kinda cute and give the dining room a little bit of a southwest flare!