Drying peppers for seeds

[valley]

I have some peppers to dry, that I need to get viable seed from.

Thinking of using a dehydrator. The dehydrator has a heating element, don't want to compromise the seeds. Have you use one of these to dry peppers?

Guess I need to feel the temp of the air passing through and decide.

Richard

[Juliuskitty]

Is it possible to get the seeds out first, then dry your pepper? The seeds can dry on their own, safely that way.

[nedwina]

If your dehydrator has a variable temp, you could do low & slow. I wouldn't set it over 90 degrees though, just to be safe.

I just slit mine and left them loose in a bowl on top of the microwave in the kitchen. It didn't take too long for them to get crunchy. A coupla weeks. I've found if I keep them whole, even strung up with decent air flow, they mold inside.

[valley]

I think I'll do that, remove the seeds. Thanks

Richard

[valley]

I slit them as you mentioned and put them aside to dry. I have many peppers drying. There is one type of pepper that I have only three peppers, the plant died when the temperature dropped due to power failure. A good number of the seeds look pretty good.

Thankyou Richard

[imafan26]

When you take the peppers out of the pods, I rinse them in a strainer and then cover them with water. Any floaters are poured off and I keep only the seeds that sank. It works for saving most seeds to determine which are good and which are duds.

[Aida]

When you take the peppers out of the pods, I rinse them in a strainer and then cover them with water. Any floaters are poured off and I keep only the seeds that sank. It works for saving most seeds to determine which are good and which are duds.

Hmm, that's a really good tip. It makes a lot of sense, I wouldn't have thought of it though. Thank you!

[valley]

Some of the peppers were very damp inside after weeks on the rack, there was signs of mold in a couple.

[gixxerific]

Take the seeds out rinse as stated by imafan but do not use a dehydrator. The heat can be damaging, just put out on a paper plate and small fan at a distance will help stave off mold.

Do no put away seeds that are not completely dry. I let all seeds sit a minimum of a week maybe 2, with a fan a week is usually plenty.

[evtubbergh]

The magic number for damage to seeds is usually 40C, which I think is 104F. I would make sure they are kept way below that temperature. I would defintley take them out first though and eat the peppers!

[gixxerific]

It's not worth it to me, unless you are in that big of a hurry to get plants going.

[MB3]

I agree that most peppers will rot if you don't live in a place where they can be sundried easily. cayanne are maybe one exception that dries well, though even then they are better strung with needle and thread.

btw, has anyone used any mild soap or similar on HOT pepper seeds? those suckers can hold hot oil for years, no kidding. just wondering if a mild soap will help cut some of that oil. I stupidly handle these hot pepper seeds and then go rub my face, incl eyes and nose.

[evtubbergh]

Do the whole peppers really need to be dried?

[tomc]

Do the whole peppers really need to be dried?

Where the sun is strong whole peppers can be dried. IMO I've always slit mine and taken out the seeds in less arid places like NH, NY, VT.

Running seedless fruit through a drier works faster too.

[imafan26]

I found out accidentally the best way to dry seeds was to spread them out on in a single layer on a paper towel and put them on the dash of the car and park it in the sun with the windows rolled up. Whole red peppers dried up nicely in a day. The outside temperature was about 81 degrees which is normal for here but inside a car would be over 100 degrees.

[jeffsturgeon53]

I agree, I pull out all of my seeds, soak them and pull out the floaters and then let them dry naturally with a very small fan circulating air around. This has worked well for me for many years.

[imafan26]

Sometimes I just let the peppers mature on the tree and the peppers will dry naturally as the pods shrivel up. It is easier to seed them and they don't need to be dried as long and they don't get moldy. Store seeds with a little powdered milk in the package. The powdered milk will act as a dessicant or store them in the frig in envelopes inside a ziploc and add a dessicant package or two in the bag. Only take out what seeds you need, you don't want seeds to go from cold to hot locations too often or condensation will build up and cause mold to form. This is a problem I encountered with saved seeds especially when I had a lot of seeds packed into small plastic bags. Now, I have learned to make more packs and not to put so many seeds in one bag.