Make a Chili Pepper garland: store your harvest for the winter months.

Allow the chili fruits to ripen fully on the plant; the flavours and colours will intensify and store better for longer if you allow them to fully ripen.

Harvest using a pair of sharp scissors. Wearing gloves might be advisable – chilies irritate the skin, and whatever you do, don’t rub your eyes afterwards!  Make the cut so as to keep a good amount of the stalk in tact.

Leave them to dry out on a drying rack or tray for 3 days or more, in a well ventilated, sunny room.

Once they are dried, they should have started to wrinkle and the red colour will darken.

Using a sewing needle and a long piece of string or thread, take your first chili and pierce through the chili just underneath it’s cap. Thread through to near the end of the string then tie a knot around the chili. Now continue to keep threading all of the chilies.

Then tie a final knot around the last chili.

Hang them either in a well ventilated, sunny area of your home – they will dry out completely a lot quicker. Or to keep them for longer – leave them in a cool dark area. They might keep their flavour for up to a year.