Emma MacDonald

Dried Chilli Wreath

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Preparation info
  • Makes:

    1

    wreath
    • Difficulty

      Easy

    • Ready in

      45 min

Appears in
The Art of Preserving: Ancient techniques and modern inventions to capture every season in a jar
The Art of Preserving

By Emma MacDonald

Published 2021

  • About

Strings of chillies, known as ristra, are seen everywhere in New Mexico, where the traditional method of preserving chilli pods is air-drying. Not only is it useful to have a supply of chillies to crumble into recipes, but this wreath also looks attractive as a decoration in the home. Hang the wreath using raffia, if you like.

Ingredients

  • 80 cm/22 in strong but flexible wire, such as a coat hanger
  • about 30 firm, red chillies

Method

  1. Wear thin plastic gloves to protect your hands. Thread the wire through the top of the first chilli stem. Thread a dried bay leaf on, if using, followed by the next chilli closely. Continue until you have threaded all the chillies and bay leaves together. Push the chillies close enough together so that you don’t see the wire.
  2. Wind the ends of the wire together