careful next time you use that, for coffee or other things. might get a big surprise when you do. we had that happen with thai peppers here, someone ended up with a HOT cup of coffee in the morning.I even found and wore a dust mask... which the powder still managed to penetrate btw, but did help a lot. I had to get a small brush to get all the powder off of the sides and top of the coffee grinder cup and lid though.
No worries, I actually don't drink the stuff and bought the grinder for the peppers. But that does sound like a fun prank lol. Thanks for the warning though. ;3soil wrote:careful next time you use that, for coffee or other things. might get a big surprise when you do. we had that happen with thai peppers here, someone ended up with a HOT cup of coffee in the morning.
As for the topic topic, I used a dehydrator to dry them. I did some whole, the rest cut in half. I didn't see any difference in color or anything after it was ground. It was way easier drying the halved peppers though by far. Plus I saved all the seeds.
I did use some gloves, but apparently I still got the stuff on my hands, even after I washed them. ^_~
Now to label this powder... don't want someone else to use it accidentally x3
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ThePepperSeed
- Cool Member
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:26 pm
- Location: Midwest
I use a coffee grinder to get peppers to a fine powder. If I want flakes I just put the dried peppers in ziplock bags and crush them by hand. I made these a week or two ago using the bag method:
[img]https://thepepperseed.com/wp-content/gallery/peppers/img_0668.jpg[/img]
For drying I use a dehydrator and cut them in 1/2. I dry a lot in a smoker too, those I leave whole.
[img]https://thepepperseed.com/wp-content/gallery/peppers/img_0668.jpg[/img]
For drying I use a dehydrator and cut them in 1/2. I dry a lot in a smoker too, those I leave whole.
So new here. But I'd thought I would thow this out there.
I was watching good eats with Alton Brown. And he showed a way to dry herbs that was pretty cheap and really efficient. He took two of those Filtrete Filters for your HVAC system. and laid out the herbs in the corrugated side. Then placed the other filter over the first.
Tied the two together with bungee cords to a box fan and turned it on. Obviously for herbs it would take 20 minutes at most to dry them.
Could you use that for peppers too? Obviously the higher water content would require a long period. But it could be cheaper then a dehydrator.
Anyway just a thought.
I was watching good eats with Alton Brown. And he showed a way to dry herbs that was pretty cheap and really efficient. He took two of those Filtrete Filters for your HVAC system. and laid out the herbs in the corrugated side. Then placed the other filter over the first.
Tied the two together with bungee cords to a box fan and turned it on. Obviously for herbs it would take 20 minutes at most to dry them.
Could you use that for peppers too? Obviously the higher water content would require a long period. But it could be cheaper then a dehydrator.
Anyway just a thought.
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wiscopeppers
- Full Member
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:33 pm
- Location: Madison, WI
I picked up a Nesco Gardenmaster Pro last fall and dried several jars of habanero and chocolate scotch bonnets. I run it in my back yard for about 10 hours, then use a mortar and pestle to crush them. I find this helps me control flake size pretty well, and if I seed the peppers before drying I can make some pretty wicked powder. eye/face/hand protection is essential, as well as showering afterwards. no matter how careful I am I always end up burning myself at some point during the process.
I'm jumping in here kind of late. Without reading all of the previous replies, I'll tell you my experience with drying peppers.
I hung cayennes with twine in my garage. It took quite awhile for them to shrivel up and dry completely. The strings were tied to the stems. When they were finished, some of them had mold. I cut the moldy sections off and ground the rest in a coffee grinder (after removing the seeds). The resulting powder worked out great. I dried others in a toaster oven on a very low heat setting with the door cracked open. Those were sliced lengthwise into halves with the seeds removed. That powder turned out just the same. No discernible difference and it was faster, but more labor intensive. I'm still sprinkling that powder from last season on food.
My uncle grew some banana peppers that were extremely hot (even more heat than the cayennes). I tried to preserve them by slicing and soaking them in vinegar and salt with water (in the refrigerator). That didn't work out as they lost their heat.
If I succeed in growing peppers this year, I will probably dry them in the main kitchen oven. If I had a large quantity of them, I would probably opt for spreading them out on some hardware cloth or chicken wire to dry in the garage. Both methods seem to work out well, but I can't offer any intelligent thoughts on whether or not to remove the seeds. I've heard that the seeds contain even more heat than the flesh in a pepper fruit. Pizza Hut always used to have "crushed red pepper" on the table to sprinkle on your pizza (they probably still do) and Domino's still has packets of it to pick up when you order for carryout. That product seemed to be made purely of full pepper seeds. I'm not aware of any product containing hot pepper seeds ground up into a powder. They must be difficult to grind, but we may benefit if we don't waste them.
I hung cayennes with twine in my garage. It took quite awhile for them to shrivel up and dry completely. The strings were tied to the stems. When they were finished, some of them had mold. I cut the moldy sections off and ground the rest in a coffee grinder (after removing the seeds). The resulting powder worked out great. I dried others in a toaster oven on a very low heat setting with the door cracked open. Those were sliced lengthwise into halves with the seeds removed. That powder turned out just the same. No discernible difference and it was faster, but more labor intensive. I'm still sprinkling that powder from last season on food.
My uncle grew some banana peppers that were extremely hot (even more heat than the cayennes). I tried to preserve them by slicing and soaking them in vinegar and salt with water (in the refrigerator). That didn't work out as they lost their heat.
If I succeed in growing peppers this year, I will probably dry them in the main kitchen oven. If I had a large quantity of them, I would probably opt for spreading them out on some hardware cloth or chicken wire to dry in the garage. Both methods seem to work out well, but I can't offer any intelligent thoughts on whether or not to remove the seeds. I've heard that the seeds contain even more heat than the flesh in a pepper fruit. Pizza Hut always used to have "crushed red pepper" on the table to sprinkle on your pizza (they probably still do) and Domino's still has packets of it to pick up when you order for carryout. That product seemed to be made purely of full pepper seeds. I'm not aware of any product containing hot pepper seeds ground up into a powder. They must be difficult to grind, but we may benefit if we don't waste them.
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jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Interesting thread on dried hot peppers.
Some years back we dried a bunch of jalapenos. We took off the stems and cut them in half lengthwise and dried them in a dehydrator. The seeds were not removed. They were then stored in mason jars. They have been excellent, however as noted, the dust can be very irritating if you grind them up.
Some years back we dried a bunch of jalapenos. We took off the stems and cut them in half lengthwise and dried them in a dehydrator. The seeds were not removed. They were then stored in mason jars. They have been excellent, however as noted, the dust can be very irritating if you grind them up.