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drying Need dehydrating tips

The Hot Pepper

The Hot Pepper

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Seeking tips for dehydrating hot peppers for dry spices.

Cut in half? Remove seeds? Remove stem? Keep whole?

I am not asking for tips to speed up the time, I have a pro 10-tray dehydrator, so I think it should work well. But I'm asking for the best way to dry for powders. If you want a clean, fine powder, I would assume you would remove the seeds and stem before drying, so you're just grinding dried peppers. If you want the crushed pepper look I would assume leave them whole, and remove the stem after, but coarse grind the whole pepper with seeds. Am I on the right track?

Thanks!
 
I always remove the stems before since it could be difficult to do when they're dry. I'd also try to remove seeds if possible for a less bitter and better looking final product, but its a lot of extra work when dealing with smaller peppers
 
Cool, that's what I figured. Thanks.
 
Well, I will give you the opposite info...LOL...I primarily make powder out of my peppers for use as stand alone Pepper Powder or for mixing up for spice powders and here is what I do:

I wash the pods, remove the stem, cut in half (accept the smaller pods like Tabasco or White Hab), dehydrate until brittle and then grind into a very fine powder. I have tried removing the seeds verses leaving the seeds in and did not notice any difference in the powder consistency or taste. So, I've concluded that for me, I just don't worry about the seeds.

You will soon be addicted to the making and the use of Pepper Powders. I know that I am. :lol:
 
Thanks for that.

I'll be experimenting myself, just didn't want to start off messing it up. :)

I'll let you know how it goes.
 
I agree with PF I do not remove the seeds all I have seen is sometimes the color is lighter. Whole peppers take longer to dry.
Dan
 
I remove the stem b4 drying on all and for Nagas I leave the seeds in and the flavor is fine.

You'll be able to taste Naga powder soon enough and see what you think. ;)

I tried POTAWIE's method of slitting the last Nagas I dried instead of cutting in half and they dried just a quickly as the Habs which were halved and seeds removed on a different tray, which allowed the whole batch to finish at the same time.
 
Thanks guys. I've got the 10-tray loaded up with Nagas!

Special thanks to Silver_Surfer for the Naggggs!
 
thehotpepper.com said:
Thanks for that.

I'll be experimenting myself, just didn't want to start off messing it up. :)

I'll let you know how it goes.
Click to expand...

So.... how did it go???

How do you like the new dehydrator?

How long did it take to dry those trays?

Have you ground the pods into powder yet?

How is the flavor and heat?

How bout some pics!
 
I'm having a go a dehydrating some pods at the moment, this thread has given me some good information in my endeavour.
 
I cut mine with the food processor, being able to process 10 to 15 lbs
of peppers in less than 1/2 hour. Then depending on what I'm
going to use the dehydrated peppers for, I remove the seeds later.
To remove most of the seeds I use the panning for gold method. I put the
dried sliced peppers into a plastic colander with a much larger bowl
beneath, n then just shake n bounce the peppers.
I save the seeds, n when I get enough I grind them into a powder to.
 
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