Actually very easy

Chilli flakes

The beliefChilli flakes are assumed to be possible only by drying in the sun for weeks.

The truthChilli flakes dry overnight in a home oven at 50–60 °C. The real task is drying completely: a pepper that still bends is not dry.

12 hours

How to make it

What you need

1 kg red chillies (a mix of sweet and hot, to taste)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil, optional
Gloves

How the engine read this list (3 lines)

1000 g	Red chillies	pepper
6 g	Salt	salt
5 g	Olive oil optional	olive-oil

An empty weight means that line could not be turned into grams — either the amount is open ("to taste") or the ingredient has no record here. Neither enters the sum as zero; they do not enter it at all.

Put on gloves. Wash and thoroughly dry the chillies, pull off the stems, halve them lengthways and remove the seeds and white ribs.
Lay them cut side up on an oven tray without overlapping.
Set a fan oven to 50–60 °C, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and dry them 8–12 hours.
They are done when they snap crisply between your fingers; give any that bend another 1–2 hours.
Cool them completely and crush them into coarse flakes in a mortar or with short pulses of a processor. Rub with salt and oil if you like, then jar them.

Why it works

A red chilli is about 88–90% water. Making flakes means driving off nearly all of it: 1 kg of fresh chillies gives 100–130 g of flakes. The temperature balances two things. 50–60 °C is enough to drive the moisture out and keeps the capsanthin that makes them red; above 70 °C the chillies brown and take on a bitter, scorched taste. Capsaicin, the heat, is stable under heat and survives the drying; weight for weight dried chilli is far hotter than fresh, because the water has gone and the capsaicin has stayed. Most of the capsaicin is not in the seeds but in the white ribs that hold them; to tame the heat, the ribs come out. The only reliable test of dryness is the snap: a fully dried chilli cracks crisply between the fingers, one with moisture left in it bends. Half-dried chilli leaves damp in the jar and moulds. The oily, glossy texture of Maraş and Urfa flakes comes from a little oil and salt added at the end of the drying.

The rough sum

1006 grams going in

310 kcal in total

100% of the mass has figures behind it. This is the sum of what GOES IN rather than of what comes out. Wherever something evaporates, drains or ferments the two differ: a kilo of milk is 150 g of cheese.

Diets it qualifies for

Gluten-free Vegan Vegetarian Lactose-free

Storage & shelf life

How long it keeps

Airtight jar, cool dark cupboard: 1 year
Freezer: Over a year: the colour keeps best here
By the hob, in an open pot: A few weeks: the colour fades

What ruins well-dried chilli flakes is not microbes but light, heat and oxygen. The carotenoids that make them red fade and brown in light and air, and the flavour goes with them. Keep them in small jars, away from the hob and in the dark.

When to bin it Damp, clumping, mould or a musty smell in the jar: throw all of it away. Picking out the mouldy flakes is not safe.

History

Where it comes from

Chillies are thought to have reached the Ottoman world from the Americas in the sixteenth century along Mediterranean trade routes; they suited the climate of south-east Anatolia so well that they soon became part of the region’s identity. Maraş and Urfa (isot) peppers are now protected geographical indications. Isot is made from chillies dried in the sun by day and wrapped at night to “sweat”; that day-and-night cycle gives it its deep purple-black colour and smoky taste.

The knack

The dust rises when you crush them: air the kitchen and keep your hands away from your eyes.
Dry the chillies well after washing: leftover water adds hours to the drying.

The pantry