Aga Dried -V- Sun Dried!

The first of the Apache's

Drying on the Aga

Here we have some Apache chilli peppers grown in the greenhouse which I am harvesting as they ripen and drying them on the Aga. Their rating on the Scoville scale is between 70,000 & 80,000 shu.  Now that's quite a lot of heat when you consider that a Jalapeno has a rating of a mere 10 - 20,000 shu.  Of course there are far hotter varieties and at the the other and hottest end of the scale is the Carolina Reaper which weighs in at a hefty 1,569,300 shu! When fresh, Apache's are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants.  They also make ideal decorations when dried, threaded and hung up.  I might eventually get around to alternating some with Bay leaves and hanging them in the kitchen with the odd one finding its way into a beef chilli on a cold winter's evening!