We’re celebrating all the ways to hold on to summer’s bounty this week, so we called upon our pal and food preservation guru Sherri Brooks Vinton for some wisdom on drying seasonal foods.

When I say the words “food preservation” I can often see listeners’ eyes widen and their head start to shake “no, no, no” at what they think is a daunting, all-day, steamy kitchen affair.  “Oh, I don’t have time for that,” they’ll say. But home food preservation doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. As a matter of fact, some recipes, like the one after the jump for making chile ristras, take no more than 10 minutes from start to finish. With that amount of time and a length of string, you can turn a bowl of destined-for-the-compost-because-I-couldn’t-make-that-much-salsa-if-I-had-all-day chilies into a year’s supply of clip-and-use dried peppers. You can use the same method for all manner of herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano and lavender.

Get Sherri’s food drying tips »