I'm growing Orange Thai hot peppers for the first time this year. They're finally starting to turn orange and I picked a few to try - I bit the tip off of one, crunched it up and...nothing! So I took another bite, this one containing some of the seeds, and wow!!! What a blast of heat!! Anyway, these are tiny things - a few are a bit longer but most of them are less than an inch long and about half the thickness of a pencil, if they're even that big around. They're much tinier than what I'm used to as far as hot peppers go, and I have no idea whether they'll dry. I was assuming they'd dry right on the plant the same way some Thai red hot peppers I grew a few years ago did.

So do I just leave them on the plant hoping they'll dry, or do I pick them and let them dry? I don't have any kind of dehydrator or anything like that - the best I could do is use my oven or spread them out in the sun. I suppose I could pickle them as well, but I'd prefer to just use them dry and that way I can grind some as I like to make up mixes of different types of hot pepper.

Thanks!

Lisa