drying I couldnt handle the smell of dehydrating so many hot peppers

[armac]

Doing 10 pounds of superhots and trying to remove the seeds while leaving the placenta is tedious. I tried it. I leave the seeds in now.

Powder is so hot I do not notice any bitterness.

 

[AlabamaJack]

I never remove the seeds from my dehydrated pods before grinding...too much of a PIA...and I, like armac, notice no bitterness probaby because of the heat...

I use a Magic Bullet to grind my pods to powder...give them 50 seconds in the bullet and you have a fine powder...just make sure to dedicate the blades and container to your peppers and don't use them for anything else (unless you want it hot)

 

[geeme]

Dehydrators can easily get hot enough to damage seeds, remove any that you want to save for sewing later.

If your dehydrator has a thermostat, just be sure to set it low enough so that it won't cook the seeds. I dry mine at 90F, and have no problems germinating the seeds. It takes longer to dry the pods, so it's a tradeoff.

 

[AlabamaJack]

here is the bottom line on seeds and dehydrating...if you know you are going to save your seeds, why not strip them out before dehydrating then you won't have to worry about the seeds being fertile or not...when dehydrating, it is not just the heat you have to worry about....dehydration to the point of death is also possible even if you dry them at reasonable temperatures...I dehydrate my halved pods at 120F and they seem to keep the color great and get good and crispy which makes grinding easier IMO...

 

[mrbills308]

thanks i will one of this days get around to posting what i have growing again thanks

 

[geeme]

here is the bottom line on seeds and dehydrating...if you know you are going to save your seeds, why not strip them out before dehydrating .....

It's a matter of time for me. When I first got my dehydrator, that's what I did. Then I realized that between working full-time (or more) plus classes and stuff that has to be done around the house, I really do not have the time for that. One of these days I will have time..... one of these days....

 

[chico24]

I like to strip out any "keeper" seeds prior to drying... I have a very basic dehydrator that doesnt have temp control, so I dont want to risk damaging them. It does a great job for my needs.

As someone else mentioned, if you are drying hotter peppers, the bitterness from the seeds is not overly noticeable in most cases. I tend to save as many as I can as I find it can add a bit of a "nutty" flavour to the powder that I like.

I cut my peppers in half before drying. A few taps will generally shake out most of the unwanted seeds once the pods have been thoroughly dried.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

am I the only one drying fruit and veggies (smaller Quantities) in his car - parked in the sun with windows partially rolled down?

It gets pretty warm there and the humidity is also extremely low making for a speedy process. I sometimes use the trunk (cracked open ) - but then again, we have a pretty big lot of land and old cars ;-)

or you could go "green" ... http://www.builditso...king.htm#Drying (excellent site, btw)

cheers
al

 

[salsalady]

Texas Blues made some sun dried tomatoes in the dash of his truck..... said it worked great!