Greetings, all- In sunny Florida, attempting to air-dry chiles usually results in a mildewed mess due to our moisture-laden air. Oven-drying adds to the heat in the kitchen [& also the air conditioning bill] and requires fairly constant attention. Here's a 'natural' lazy-man's method that seems to work well for us. The chiles are spread out about 1/2" apart on a horizontal window screen in the [poorly ventilated!] attic of our house. The screen is supported at the corners about 2' off the floor so that air freely circulates around it. In sunny weather the chiles are nicely dried in about a week. One glitch that we had: something was disturbing the chiles & apparently eating portions of 'em [bugs, as yet unidentified, we think]. A close-fitting screen wire cover took care of that problem. As to limp chiles that have been hit by frost: I've never tried drying them. We rinse them off, pat dry, put in Zip-lok bags, and freeze. To save space, slice off the sides & freeze these flat pieces. The frozen pieces go well in anything that's cooked. They flavor salsas fine but most of the crunch is missing. To avoid wasting any of that good 'hottnin' I throw the seeds, veins & end pieces into a jar of dilute vinegar & brine & let it ferment [a la dill pickles] for a few weeks, then simmer a few minutes, strain and bottle as my own "Fiasco" sauce. No two batches are the same but we like it. Gene **************************************************** * F. Eugene (Gene) Dunnam * * Professor of Physics <dunnam@phys.ufl.edu> * * University of Florida (352) 392-1444 * * P. O. Box 118440 * * Gainesville, FL 32611-8440 * * <http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~dunnam/Welcome.html> * ****************************************************