Re: [CH] Drying Miss Dewi's peppers

Love2Troll (Love2Troll@kc.rr.com)
Fri, 5 Oct 2001 10:10:26 -0500 

>>On topic: I'm drying a bunch of chiles on top of my fridge. I want to try
>>and make some chile powder. I now have Siberian Indoor, Prairie Fire, Piri
>>Piri, Jalapeno, Cerasella and Santaka. But they don't feel dry yet. But then
>>again the Chipotles don't feel dry either. Can I just stuff them in a
>>blender even when I'm not sure? Help would be much appreciated. 

Dewi,

I'm not familiar with all the varieties that you mentioned, but you need to be in a warm, dry climate to air dry many peppers.  (usually I recommend Arizona)  Just takes too long & you risk chance of mold in many climes.  I use a $30 food dehydrator that can be bought most anyplace here in the US. 

Many people use their ovens set at the lowest possible setting.  Prop oven the door with a wooden spoon etc to let the moisture escape.  Put the peppers on a cookie sheet as far away from the heating elements as possible. If the oven is too hot you might get a burnt taste that is not at all like the pleasant taste you get from roasting or smoking them. Do it slow.  The same thing is true for dehydrators that are too hot. I can only use the very top 2 racks on mine.  Might take 24-48 hours depending upon the heat.  People with a gas oven have reported that they dry their peppers using the pilot light only.  With just a pilot light it might take a lot longer.  

If you have the $ to buy a convection oven or a better dehydrator with adjustable heat control then go for it.  The lower the heat, the better results in my opinion.  

Nuking the peppers in a microwave can greatly decrease drying time.  Use low setting & only nuke them for short bursts of 10 or 15 seconds at a time.  Be careful not to cook them.  This is a trial & error thing as all microwaves differ.  Be careful that the peppers don't explode.

Thin walled peppers such as habs can be dried whole.  Thicker fleshed peppers such as jalapeņos should be sliced up.  You might want to take the seeds out as well.  I don't.  Poblanos dry whole quite well in my experience.  An assortment of whole dried peppers in a glass container is quite attractive.

I use a tiny $10 Black & Decker food chopper to powder the peppers.  If peppers aren't dry enough then you get chunks instead of powder.  When my peppers are dried perfectly, I expect to get some powder & some "flakes" when I put them through the chopper.  Blenders, food processors, coffee grinders, etc are also used.  Even a mortar & pestle would work.

Color indicating beads of silica gel desiccant can be put in the storage containers to keep the dried peppers fresh & dry.  When the beads turn pink, just nuke them to drive out the moisture & reuse.

Am pretty sure that others will have suggestions as well.  Or perhaps corrections if they see something wrong with my way of doing things.

Good luck!

JohnT



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