Anyone here dehydrate their hot peppers ?

[Noreaster]

Have a fair amount of hot peppers, and was thinking about dehydrating some.

Anyone else do that ? I do some tomato with an inexpensive machine I bought years ago, but thinking about "moving up" and getting a much better one.

Anyone have a dehydrator they might recommend ?

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by Noreaster

Have a fair amount of hot peppers, and was thinking about dehydrating some.

Anyone else do that ? I do some tomato with an inexpensive machine I bought years ago, but thinking about "moving up" and getting a much better one.

Anyone have a dehydrator they might recommend ?

I do it all the time. After they are dry, you can either store them as slices or grind them up for chili powder. If you don't want them molten, remove the seeds. I swear that dried peppers get hotter after drying..I have no idea why.

[TomNJ]

I dehydrate peppers every year using my gas oven. If you have the time, the pilot light alone will dry most peppers in about a week. For faster drying I set the oven for the minimum temperature it will hold, which in my case is about 140°F. At this temperature with the door ajar the peppers will completely dry in two or three days depending on the pepper. The nice thing about an oven is it holds much more veggies or herbs than most dehydrators. I have 40 pablano peppers in the oven right now, each cut in half lengthwise with the cut side up. When done I grind them to powder in a coffee grinder, or flake thinner walled types in a food processor.

TomNJ/VA

[joseph]

My brother dehydrates hot peppers every year. We ban him from doing the grinding in the house. He grinds them outside.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Me, too. I have jars full of dried peppers. I use the Excalibur® Dehydrator which I like very much.

[Zana]

I dry mine in a dehydrator or just hang them. If the small bird peppers I just set them on a tray above the fridge and let them dry. Then I grind them or flake them....all though I do have jars of chunks too.

[kath]

I have a 9 tray Excalibur and love it! So far it's dried hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes, celery, beets, onions, white and sweet potatoes, garlic, beans, corn, carrots, spinach, cabbage, herbs, apples, blueberries, bananas and cantaloupe.

kath

[Father'sDaughter]

The last two years I dried Cayenne's for hot pepper flakes, and Italian long red peppers for Calabrian Paprika. This year I'm drying a few other hot pepper varieties that will be ground up. I use a five tray Excalibur and it works great.

[livinonfaith]

My family gave me a Nesco dehydrator this summer and it works really well. Someone had recommended that one and my older brother also did some research before he bought it and said it had really good reviews. (It also does some fancy stuff like jerky and fruit rolls, but don't know that I'll use those features very often.)

It did great with both my thin skinned peppers, (red Thai) and the slightly thicker ones. (Cyklon) I dry mine whole for the thin skinned ones and halved and seeded for the thick ones. Then they are stored in plastic bags or an air tight jar. When needed, I'll pull a few out and grind or crush just enough for about a month. Heard somewhere that the flavor stays better that way than grinding it all at once.

[Noreaster]

Wow....thanks, all for your responses.

The cheap dehydrator I've used for a few years (for tomatoes) is the one made by
Ronco. Not really happy with it due to inconsistency, stickiness, need to rotate, and about 24-hour requirement.

Not ready yet for the fully-equipped Excaliber (volume I'll do won't justify the $ ).
But can get the Nesco FD-80 at Walmart for $ 60.

Anyone use that particular Nesco for tomatoes, peppers, etc. ?

[peppero]

i like to dry peppers as well as freeze some. the thin skin types air dry easily as well as in a dehyraytor. i have also taken jalapenos, sliced in half and oven dried at about 175 till they are wrinkled and very dark. they will keep in a jar for a LONG TIME that way and they can be crumbled or pulverized and used as a coloring/flavoring ingredient in soups, stews or whatever your taste buds or imagination will allow. Try it, you might like it.

jon

[livinonfaith]

Noreaster, couldn't find the model number on mine, but it says it is the Nesco Dehydrator and jerky maker. Besides the regular drying trays, (four, I believe) it came with some extra trays for fruit rolls and a tube to press jerky into strips. You can set it to several different temperatures and it has a fan.

I haven't dried tomatoes yet, but it handled fig halves very well. And it dried my thicker skinned Cyklon peppers MUCH better than my oven did last year. (So much faster, too!) It seems like it would work well for your average home gardener.

[Noreaster]

Thanks very much, Livinon.

Appreciate the report......so I'm gonna go with the Nesco FD-80 .

[pdxwindjammer]

Yes, I dry several kinds but my favorite is the Hot Lemon Peppers! The flavor is good and the heat is high! I also grow cayenne peppers every year and dry and grind those. I have a coffee grinder that I use only for my dried hot peppers. Bless the unsuspecting soul who tries to drink coffee after grinding beans in this grinder!

[beatpoet]

I dehydrate all of the peppers that I don't use fresh or pickle. Got a nesco dehydrator this year and been getting my moneys worth out of it. Prior to that I'd just hang them on strings to dry. Got a batch in the dehydrator now, 3 kinds of peppers. Eventually they'll get turned into chili powder/flakes or used in stir fry or something else like that.