drying peppers

L

LT72884

Babbling Farker
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
3,070
Reaction score
342
Points
0
Location
Draper Utah
sorry for posting a third post!

I noticed in the kettle chips thread that someone mentioned that they smoked some jalapenos and then dried them. That is one of my goals this summer is to plant 3 or 4 types of peppers and then dry them.

I really like the long lookin red peppers but im not sure what type they are.

How does one dry peppers?

thanks
 
It depends on the peppers. Some can be dried out in the sun like NM green chile. It's allowed to turn red on the vine, then picked and laid out to sun dry. It can also be turned into Ristras and dried that way also.
Chiles like jalapenos can also be dried this way after they turn red on the vine, but are also susceptible to mold.
A lot depends on how dry your climate is during the summer months.

Dry red pods are cheap around here so I just buy potato sacks full for around 15-25 bucks.
For jalapenos I smoke dry em in the UDS. Habaneros, I freeze whole and fresh. These defrost fairly well jalapenos not so much.
I just leave em in the UDS till they are completely dry. They come out pretty dark, but very nice and smokey.

One key if you smoke dry them is to draw as much water out of them as possible. I cut the jalaps in half then sprinkle salt on the inside. Put em upside down in a cookie sheet with paper towels so the moisture drains. Then a quick rinse after few hours (2-3) and into the UDS.

The biggest problem is mold forming on the inside. Our summers here reach 100+ temps, so a couple weeks outside in the middle of summer dries most peppers quickly and mold is not too much of a problem.
 
We don't have the benefit of long hot days like BB does. So, any pepper I dry, smoked or not, I use a dehydrator.

I grow Thia Dragons each year which is a long, thin walled pepper. They are easily dried in the dehydrator. I'll stack four racks and rotate them every 3-4 hours to get a consistent dried batch.

Thick wall peppers like a Jalapeno are more difficut and take longer. To speed up the process, you can cut the tops off at the stem so air can also circulate inside.

Here's an example of the top tray of Kung Pao peppers:
Image24-1.jpg


Hope that helps. They are easy to find at places like Cabelas, etc.
 
look for cayenne, thai, thai bird or finger chili. good luck.
 
I naturally dry mine at the very end of the season, which is December down here.

Just toss 'em all in a stainless steel sieve, and rotate every few days. 8 weeks in, and they're all ready.

Pic:

Chilipeppers001.jpg


From left to right, a single lonely Jalapeno, a bunch of Chilitepins, and a few choice Serranos.
 
wow, those look good everyone. im trying to justify if i need to dry them or not. i want to plant some this year and if i grow to many then i will dry themn. haha

thanks Bob. im gonna have to re read your post when there is not so much noise at my house! hard to concentrate. haha
 
In my case, most of those peppers in the previous pic will be made into hot salt :) I'll use some straight up ground, in things like scrambled eggs, mild sausage, heat for chili, or just about anything that requires a little kick.
 
All I know is when I was a kid my friends dad dryed out Habenro's ,WShen you walked in the house it felt like you got maced,lol

One time I ate 1 for 20 bucks,I was hurtin for certian.
 
BobBrisket,

I would love more info for the jalepeno smoke on the UDS. One of my goals this summer is smoked peppers. I plan on planting a bunch of jalepenos this summer. I have a UDS and an offset. I have access to a dehydrator (Mom mod :). Would I be better off using the drum w/ charcoal and wood chunks or the offset with the same fuel source. Thanks in advance.
 
Chipotle

Any latin store has 'em...

From Wiki:

A chipotle (pronounced /tʃɨˈpoʊtleɪ/ chi-POHT-lay; Spanish: [tʃiˈpotle]), or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried jalapeño which tends to be brown and shriveled.[1] It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Mexican-American and Tex-Mex.
There are many varieties of jalapeños which vary in size and heat. In Mexico, the jalapeño is also known as the cuaresmeño and gordo. Until recently, chipotles were almost exclusively found in the markets of central and southern Mexico. As Mexican food became more popular abroad, especially in North and South America in the late 20th century and into the 21st century, jalapeño production and processing began to expand into northern Mexico to serve the southwestern United States, and eventually processing occurred in the United States and other places, such as China.
 
I got a pic of some that I made here:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92991&highlight=smoked+peppers

Some red jalaps: You can see the salt on em to draw the moisture out.
028.jpg


Knucklehead's Post.........that's a lot of peppers!
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85739&highlight=red+jalapenos

Really simple. Cut the top off, halve or quarter, seed and devein or NOT, hit with salt, turn upside down on a rack over the sink or on a cookie sheet with towels, let the moisture draw out, quick rinse, onto a smoker place on foil, low heat and smoke, turn and rotate and just watch em once they start getting dark and drying out.
I store em in a zip in the fridge.

Or you can skip the salt step and put em on just like Knucklehead did.

Bob
 
Didn't read all the way through the comments, but the dehydrator is definitely the way to go. The "long red ones" are probably cayenne
 
Bob, how do you get the jalpenos to be red? an dhow low are we talkin bout on the UDS? less than 225

thanks
 
Here's the one I was looking for:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69305

I buy em that way. At the end of the season there are TONS of red jalaps to be bought around here for CHEAP.

Try to keep it at around 200-225. You can cook em hotter, just keep an eye on em and turn em frequently.

The best way to get homegrown to turn red is to leave em on the vine. Only problem is that I've found the plant stops producing as many new peppers when it still has mature ones on the vine. Also, after grocery stores have had em on the shelf a while, they just turn red on their own.
 
BobBrisket said:
Here's the one I was looking for:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69305

I buy em that way. At the end of the season there are TONS of red jalaps to be bought around here for CHEAP.

Try to keep it at around 200-225. You can cook em hotter, just keep an eye on em and turn em frequently.

The best way to get homegrown to turn red is to leave em on the vine. Only problem is that I've found the plant stops producing as many new peppers when it still has mature ones on the vine. Also, after grocery stores have had em on the shelf a while, they just turn red on their own.
Click to expand...

ok, so let me get this straight! i cut them, devien them, drain them, and smoke them at 200 or 225 for long hours or until nice and dry?

ok cool. gonna have to try this out.

thanks

EDIT

did you ever make the infused oil?
 
LT72884 said:
ok, so let me get this straight! i cut them, devien them, drain them, and smoke them at 200 or 225 for long hours or until nice and dry?

ok cool. gonna have to try this out.

thanks
Click to expand...

If you want less heat, then seed and devein. If you want to salt em, let em drain. Here's another little tip. I've also left the salt on and just tossed em in the smoker like that. Adds a little more to the flavor profile. 3-4 hours, just check em after the first hour or so. Once they start to dry up they go quick from there.

You can then use them for just about anything. Toss a few into a soup, stew, chili, etc. Grind em up and use the powder in rubs or just to flavor things like eggs, etc. Crumble em into salsa. Toss a few into some EVOO and infuse it. Make hot vinegar for a dressing, and once the dry peppers soak up the vinegar.............eat em!
 
Bob, did you ever infuse the oils like you were thinkin of in the thread you posted?

im thinkin of doing this. pork chops would be awesome fried in infues oil
 
BobBrisket said:
I've got about 7 mature Tepin plants. Tell us about this hot salt.
Click to expand...

There are many recipes around the net for it. Most of them involve ground hot peppers of various varieties, salt, or kosher salt, pepper, and whatever else you want. I try to make mine on the low salt side, so mine is usually extra hot!

I just go by eye on this stuff, so it's usually something like this:

20 chilitepins, 3 Serranos, 1 jalapeno, all dried and ground in coffee grinder at coarsest setting. Add salt, pepper, and whatever else to coffee grinder, and run the mixture through grinder several times for a more consistant grind and mix. Deposit hot salt into an old shaker container, and be sure to label it Hot Salt!

Use it on anything that needs a little boost :) Eggs and potatoes like hot salt a lot!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Garlic Bombs! :)
Replies
15
Views
540
Bluebird
B
cowgirl
A Molcajete Mixto
2 3
Replies
46
Views
2K
cowgirl
cowgirl
SMOKE FREAK
Beans and chiles and stuff. Setup for a throwdown.
Replies
16
Views
960
16Adams
16Adams
KC Smoke
Just steak and potatoes
Replies
7
Views
270
Callahan-que
Callahan-que
S
new ingredients and techniques in my Mex cooking
Replies
5
Views
493
LYU370
LYU370
Back
Top