What to do with all those fresh local peppers

This time of year we have a glut of locally grown red peppers and hot peppers from our great New Jersey farms. Every year, my mother and grandmother would roast red peppers and put them up or dry hot peppers and put them in jars that could last for at least a year or more.

I take it a step further and flash fry them when they're completely dried and it turns them black. You put them in a jar with olive oil, and wow.

I've only seen it done this way in my native South Philly and I think it comes from Calabria and Puglia in Southern Italy in an area called Lucania. There were old Greek colonies in the region and they could be an ancient Greek recipe. Really hot with a smoky flavor. Here's how to dry all of those hot chili peppers that you'll find at some local markets