Guide on harvesting and storing chilli seeds

When the peppers are ripe, it's time to harvest to either eat them fresh, dry them, put them, or even keep the seeds to grow new plants next season.

To harvest and store the seeds, all you have to do is pick the peppers when they are ripe (otherwise the seeds are sterile) and get yourself the following equipment:

• A cutting board (even for cutting bread is fine)

• A pointed knife

• A pair of gloves (recommended)

Harvesting guide

Take the pepper and cut the ends, make a cut on one side and open it; Now remove the seeds together with the whole placenta (the whitish and spongy area where the seeds are attached) from everything else.

It is important to remove the seeds with all the placenta because doing so:

• They continue to mature, reaching maximum fertility.

• When the placenta starts to dry it releases the essential capsaicin oil that protects the seeds.

Storing guide

Now if the seeds are from chilli peppers just put them in a container, otherwise, to speed everything up, put them between sheets of paper towels and then in a warm and dry place for a few days.

Now just touch the seeds with 2 fingers and detach them from the placenta, store them in a cool, dry, dark and moisture-free place, such as a cardboard box with some rice to remove the little moisture left. Avoid plastic bags if you are not sure that the seeds are totally dry, otherwise, you'll have to throw them away. The seeds have an average life span of 3 years.

With the leftover placenta, you can either throw it out or do what you want with it. It is super spicy since capsaicin is the element that makes a chilli spicy, not the seed.