How I keep half a chilli from drying out

Only half the pod went into the sauce — the second half lies cut-side up. In an hour the edge already wrinkles, the seeds go pale, the heat leaks into the air. I shut the cut to a small bowl or tight under film at once and take it to the cold: the hot juice stays inside, it does not dry on the wood.

How I keep half a chilli from drying out. A jar of chilli flakes is about a dry shelf; a sweet pepper half is about soft flesh; lime and lemon after the knife are about citrus. Here it is the fresh hot pod after sauce: do not let the cut weather, so tomorrow it still burns the tongue in the pan.

If it already dried to a tough skin — I trim the dry edge and send the middle into oil in the pan. I don’t “revive” it with water: a wet chilli turns sour faster. I’m not comparing varieties from the aisle — only the half we already cut.

I don’t need a pod that by evening rustles like paper. I need a half that still smells of heat. In your kitchen after sauce is chilli hidden cut-side down — or forgotten open on the board?