Too Many Sweet Bell Peppers

 

I got these peppers at the grocery store, all in one large bag marked down. They do this sometimes when they have produce that's not selling. It's usually bananas, but yesterday it was bell peppers. I grabbed two bags and was lucky to get thoese. Other women were grabbing at the basket too. 

I wanted these for drying. It's an experiement I have wanted to do for along time so, since I got these cheap, I tried it today. I have seen photos of apple rings drying on a stick or a string across a window and have often though, "I wonder if that would work for peppers...hmmmmmm...". I'm trying it in my window, as well as in the oven. 

I sliced them all into thin rings, trying to keep them similar thicknesses. I hung most of the rings on the wooden chopsticks and put them in the oven on "Keep Warm". I think it may be too hot, sitting at 170f. Drying temperature is quite a bit cooler but it's all I have, so I used it. 

I put the rest of the rings in the window on a small wooden piece of dowel I had hanging around. I washed it first, of ocurse. I used a Farmer's Market display thing to hold it. (I have a LOT of Farmer's Market displays I have made in the past few years, just hanging around in the garage.)

The little pieces got chopped up and spread out of paper towels to dry. I have dried a lot of seeds and herbs this way in the past years, so I'm trying it with peppers. 

I kept the peppers in the oven for hours. I turned it off from time to time and just left them in there to dry. It works for meringue kisses...

When I took them out to roast a chicken in the oven, they were still not quite crispy dry, so I just put them on my resin counter top to finish drying. They look kind of shriveled and dark. I think they look okay and they have gotten dryer and crispier over the evening. I may still leave them out until morning, just to make sure they are dry enough. Then crush them into a glass jar. Do they look okay? Too dark? What do you think? They look kind of overcooked to me, maybe "roasted"?

They don't look very appetizing, but then something dried never does. They sure do smell good! Very much like green bell peppers. Well, I don't think I'll do the oven thing again. I may stick with drying rings on a stick or a string in a sunny window.

Drying things in a vehicle on a sunny day works well too. I've done herbs like that. The truck smells wonderful on those days! ("Stinky!" is what hubby calls it...)

I'll post again with the results of the pepper rings on the stick in the sunny window, when they are ready.

We get our motorhome back from the garage on Saturday. I'll have to find a spot for drying things in there when we hit the road.