drying hot peppers

12 years ago

I borrowed an American Harvest Snackmaster dehydrator and want to dry some large ancho peppers in the garden. I use them to make my own Chili Powder, and when I buy the dry anchos from Penzy's the are dried whole, with stems and seeds inside. I usually cut off the stem end and shake out most of the seeds before using them. It does not look like the dehydrator tray is deep enough to accommodate the whole pepper. I find it easiest to use as close to a whole pepper as possible since that is how I measure the different peppers I put in: 2 whole Anchos, 3 arbol chilis, ect. Has anyone ever dried large peppers? I was thinking I could cut them in half length wise, remove the seeds and dry them. Do they need to be cut up smaller for some reason? Any idea how long or what setting? I have a vacuum sealer that I hope to use to seal them in batches with one bag equal to the amt needed for one batch of Chili powder.

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

digdirt2
12 years ago
Peppers: Wash, stem. Remove core and seeds. Blanch 3-4 mins. Cut into 1/4 to 1/2" strips Dry for 8-12 hours until tough to brittle.

That's the general guidelines from NCHFP documents and basically what I use for mine. But the smaller the pieces the better and faster they dry and the longer they store so keep that in mind too.

Personally I wouldn't do halves of Anchos. Still so big that it will take a couple of days in that particular dehydrator. That long not only costs in electricity and wear and tear on the machine but gives plenty of time for bacteria to settle in.

Try a few quarters and see how long it takes and then go from there would be my suggestion.

Dave

PS: also if you don't dry them completely, just 1/2 way or a bit more, then you can freeze them for indefinite storage. I still use from 2009 bags in the freezer.
sue_ct
Original Author
12 years ago
I can't use frozen because of what I use them for. They need to be very dry in order to make them into a powder in the Chili powder. I did not know peppers needed to be blanched before drying them, so thanks for that. All the times on the box are much shorter, tomatoes 10 hours, Apples 6 hours, Bananas 5 1/2 hours, etc. Why would peppers take so long? Not that it matters, just curious. This is 500w one, I saw on Amazon that they do make a 700w and others. The unit says it is 135 degrees on the veggie setting, 155 degrees on the meat setting. Should I try using the higher setting? I would not hesitate to eat raw peppers that sat at room temps for a couple of days, but dried is different? Sorry for the questions but this process is new to me. And thanks for taking the time to give me the information you did. I already learned a couple of things. :)
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david52 Zone 6
12 years ago
With drying for grinding, I wash them off, slice them in1/4 - 1/2 inch rounds or half-rounds depending on the size of the pepper, then put them in at 135F.

You can seed them or not, some peppers have way more seeds than others, and if you want the heat, its concentrated in the seeds.

Here, they're usually crispy dry in well less than 24 hours, but we rarely have high humidity to slow the process,
sue_ct
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you!