How to Store Chili Peppers? Learn These Tricks and Never Worry About Waste Again

Chili peppers are an indispensable seasoning and side vegetable in the lives of spice lovers, but as a type of vegetable, they spoil easily when stored improperly or for too long. So how should chili peppers be stored? Here are a few tips for you, so read carefully!

1. Fresh Storage Techniques

1. Indoor storage with yellow soil or mud (sand): First spread a layer of mud (sand) about 3 cm thick on the bottom of a box, then disinfect the chili peppers, let them dry, and put them into a wooden box. One layer of chili peppers, one layer of mud (sand), filling upward until 5-7 cm below the box opening, then cover with mud (sand) to seal. As for the storage quantity, a wooden box holds 10 kg, while a basket can hold a bit more. For the stacking method, use the “horse-riding shape” stack, 4-5 layers high. When burying, also use hollow bricks or wooden boxes on the indoor floor to enclose a space 2-3 m long, 1 m wide, and 0.6-0.9 m high, then stack layer by layer as above, and cover the top layer with about 3 cm of mud (sand) to seal. To prevent excessive humidity, several ventilation tubes can be placed inside the pile. The mud (sand) used for burying should be slightly moist, but should not form a ball when squeezed by hand.

2. Storage with chaff or wheat bran: The packaging, stacking, and management are the same as with mud (sand) storage, except that chaff is used instead of mud (sand), which helps to some extent to keep the temperature of the burial environment stable.

3. Storage with plant ash: Build a pool in the corner of a wall with adobe bricks, sized according to the quantity of chili peppers, then mix fresh chili peppers evenly with plant ash and put them into the pool. The amount of plant ash should be enough so that no chili peppers are exposed, and cover the ash with some thin grass. Fresh chili peppers can also be stored with coal cinders: spread one layer of coal cinders and place one layer of fresh chili peppers. Note that the coal cinders must completely cover the chili peppers, and water should be sprayed regularly to keep the coal cinders moist.

2. Dehydration

1. Wash clean with water, drain, and sun-dry until 90% dry.

2. Thread a string through the stems of the chili peppers, hang them up, and sun-dry until completely dry.

3. If you want to store chili peppers, you can first air-dry them to remove moisture, make sure the chili peppers are intact, place them in a box in layers without pressing too much, and keep them in a cool place; they can basically be stored for one month.

3. Cold Storage

1. The warehouse must be strictly disinfected with formaldehyde, peracetic acid, bleaching powder, etc., by fumigation and spraying for thorough disinfection.

2. Harvest from nearby fields, choosing plots with few diseases and vigorous growth; the chili pepper fruits should be plump, firm in texture, intact, and dark and glossy in skin color, and inferior or diseased fruits should be removed. Pack into baskets or boxes, trying to avoid collisions and compression during transport.

3. Soak in a fungicidal preservative agent for 2-3 minutes to remove surface pathogens and provide a protective layer for the chili peppers. After drying, put them into storage for pre-cooling.

4. Pre-cooling must be thorough and rapid.

5. Bagging: Put the pre-cooled chili peppers into chili pepper preservation bags, 5-10 kg per bag, and tie the openings. The preservation bags should be moisture-permeable and breathable PE bags to prevent “sweating” and gas poisoning (carbon dioxide). When carbon dioxide reaches 5%, the openings should be untied for ventilation, with a ventilation time of about 1 hour.

6. The cold storage temperature should be controlled at around 8°C, with a temperature fluctuation of 0.5°C.

7. Mold prevention: During storage, pay attention to mold prevention. If mold appears, promptly fumigate with a preservation smoke agent. With proper measures and complete conditions, chili peppers can be kept fresh for 3.5-4 months.