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slimy_okra

Hot pepper powder not aromatic enough

Slimy_Okra
9 years ago

I dried some hot peppers in a dehydrator set at 140 degrees F, then I ground them. The powder tastes a little bland to me - none of the complex roasted aroma I would expect from dried hot peppers. Is my heat setting too low, or too high?

This is the first time I'm drying hot peppers.

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Wed, Oct 1, 14 at 22:16

Comments (14)

  • ronnyb123
    9 years ago

    What peppers did you dry?

  • greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
    9 years ago

    Try smoking the peppers....

    Josh

  • siouxzin
    9 years ago

    I did mine at around 135 and I had probably 10 different varieties total. It took a couple of days to get them dry enough but the powder turned out spicy and tasty.

    So it probably depends on the variety.

    Or, like Josh mentioned, Smoke them first. You shouldn't have to smoke them very long to get the flavor in there.

    This post was edited by Siouxzn on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 15:39

  • Slimy_Okra
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I'm drying ripe padron peppers. They're typically not allowed to get large and ripe but I just couldn't keep up with harvesting them immature - I had way too many plants. I read about people who dried them to grind into a spicy paprika.

    They smelled really good while drying which is why I'm puzzled. The powder smells much less strong. It took 4 days to dry them completely.

    This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 0:52

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    I have never used heated dehydrator. But I thing 140F is almost cooking meats temperature. At high temperatures some aroma might not be stable. I would suggest using lower temp, though it might take a little longer.

    Once I built a heat less dehydrator. (I dumped it when I was moving). I am going to build another small one, using a CPU fan that I have. At room temperature some air flow can speed up drying quite a bit.

  • Mecdave Zone 8/HZ 9
    9 years ago

    Three to four hours of hickory smoke before drying will make all the difference.

    And yes, 140 degrees is meat smoking temp, but perfect, imo for peppers too. Even pods sliced in half and de-seeded will take 8 to 36 hours after the smoke to fully dry at that temp.

    Note: I haven't tried just drying alone at that temp so can't say how taste is affected, but I may do some soon as I don't like how the ones I have sun drying now are looking.

    This post was edited by mecdave on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 11:02

  • randy355
    9 years ago

    I have found if you put a leg of pork on the bottom rack and your peppers above and smoke for 12-16 hrs some good beer on ice and life is great That's right the peppers are good also Mesquite Scorpion is my flavor of choice or you can try when just about dry a 350 oven till roasted dark red then grind sometimes it gives a better flavor than just drying its like roasting coffee for a deeper aroma

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Randy, What a clever idea. Some pork and cold beer. hahaha

  • bberkmor
    9 years ago

    I recently made some powder as well but don't have a smoker.. I put some soaked hickory chips(Walmart has them) on one side of my BBQ on low and put the halved peppers on the opposite off side on the top rack. Closed the lid and let it sit for 30 mins. Immediately after they were put in the dehydrator at 130F for 12 Hrs. Just from the quick smoke the aroma from the powder is so strong it seeps through doubled up freezer bags and makes my entire spice cabinet smell like the powder. And the smoky flavor makes it taste soo much better on top of that.

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    I don't know much about Padrons, but some varieties just aren't all that great when dried. As others have mentioned, smoke brings something to the party, but toasting them prior to reconstituting or grinding does wonders also.

    Kevin

  • Slimy_Okra
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the smoke tip. I have to try it out!

    I think you all are also right about the variety. I just dried some chile de arbols and they are great! Deep flavor!

  • Mecdave Zone 8/HZ 9
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the follow-up. I've been eye-balling the green Padrons at the grocery store, but since I have this thing against green (unripe) peppers, I hadn't pried open my wallet yet. If the ripe ones aren't all that great, I'll not bother buying or growing them.

  • Slimy_Okra
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    No, the green Padrons are excellent when picked small. I might have conveyed the wrong message with my post. The ripe ones taste a little flat, but the green ones have a very vegetable-y, okra-like flavour, unmatched by any other green pepper. That's why I was pretty surprised to see how bland the red ones were.

    Edit: I believe it has more to do with size than colour, since the full-size green Padrons are also relatively bland in terms of flavour, but quite hot. Pick them at no more than 2" long.

    This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 1:11

  • toolstack
    9 years ago

    I bought a presto dehydrator a couple of weeks ago. I filled it up yesterday with thai dragon and red and golden Cheyenne. The whole house smells like peppers. I hope they taste good. I wanted to smoke them first but we had high wind and blowing dust yesterday. This is my first time drying them also.
    Randal

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