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Salt curing fresh pods?
- Thread starter Edmick
- Start date
I mean, he'd have to be to hang around here for this long....
Already got a qt bag about half full. Halved peppers dried and just slightly hand crushed. I put another 20ish outside but the weather is not ideal for drying. Had to put them in the dehydrator today to finish. Quite a few more looked ready when i watered today. I always let mine sit on the counter or window sill a few days before halving them for drying.
Love how well these SIchuan dry too. Color is killer.
Love how well these SIchuan dry too. Color is killer.
I never ended up trying out the salt curing and just went with the dehydrator. They seem to have a somewhat salty taste to begin with so I'm not sure its really necessary unless you wanted to use them for some kind of seasoning blend or something.nmlarson said:
Running them partially dried through a grinder does sound interesting.
Last Friday, before I headed out for the weekend, I halved and seeded the Aleppos I got from TrentL's farm.
After sitting on the dining room table Saturday and Sunday, I put them in the dehydrator Sunday evening. My intention was to pull them before I went to bed Sunday evening, but I didn't, and they dried until they were toasty crisp.
Salt curing isn't taking place on this batch.
The two trays of peppers ended up about a quarter of their original volume.
KitchenAid makes a grinder attachment for the power port on their stand mixers, which I have, so I hooked it up, using the larger of the two round hole dies. Here's the initial set up.
After grinding about a quarter of the peppers, the auger jammed and after some unsuccessful tapping and hammering, I decided to take it into the downstairs shop and put it in one of the vices to get the retention nut off.
Clearing the jam and flaking the brick it caused took about a half hour. A mortar and pestle looked to be a better fit for the process, so I dug it out of the back of the pantry and set to breaking down the remaining peppers. It seemed like it should take a lot more time than it actually did. In the future, I'll just do it this way, as the product coming out of the grinder wasn't the nice big flake I wanted.
After adding about a teaspoon (a flatware teaspoon, not a measuring spoon) of flake kosher salt and the same of olive oil, I'm done! The two pounds of peppers made about a half cup of flakes. This stuff smells amazing!
It's still a bit hotter than I'd like, but it's so flavorful, the heat that is there won't be an issue, at least for me. Grilled zucchini is on the menu tonight, so you can bet I'll be using the Aleppo. I'll report back after dinner.....
After sitting on the dining room table Saturday and Sunday, I put them in the dehydrator Sunday evening. My intention was to pull them before I went to bed Sunday evening, but I didn't, and they dried until they were toasty crisp.
Salt curing isn't taking place on this batch.The two trays of peppers ended up about a quarter of their original volume.
KitchenAid makes a grinder attachment for the power port on their stand mixers, which I have, so I hooked it up, using the larger of the two round hole dies. Here's the initial set up.
After grinding about a quarter of the peppers, the auger jammed and after some unsuccessful tapping and hammering, I decided to take it into the downstairs shop and put it in one of the vices to get the retention nut off.
Clearing the jam and flaking the brick it caused took about a half hour. A mortar and pestle looked to be a better fit for the process, so I dug it out of the back of the pantry and set to breaking down the remaining peppers. It seemed like it should take a lot more time than it actually did. In the future, I'll just do it this way, as the product coming out of the grinder wasn't the nice big flake I wanted.
After adding about a teaspoon (a flatware teaspoon, not a measuring spoon) of flake kosher salt and the same of olive oil, I'm done! The two pounds of peppers made about a half cup of flakes. This stuff smells amazing!
It's still a bit hotter than I'd like, but it's so flavorful, the heat that is there won't be an issue, at least for me. Grilled zucchini is on the menu tonight, so you can bet I'll be using the Aleppo. I'll report back after dinner.....CaneDog said:
If I hadn't let them dry completely, such as by waiting until they were only about three-quarters dried, then ground them, I believe I'd have a better chance of getting the flake I was looking for. Will try this on the next batch. Plus, I suspect salting them prior to drying may help them retain enough moisture to be ground.
Mine, even with the "Pulse" feature, seem to just pulverize everything I put in it. 
Im upto a whole 140 grams of dried Aleppo now. Slightly broken up by hand they filled my quart ziplock. The smell is so damn nice!!!! I just put some Lebanon bells in the dehydrator to partially dry and cure for an experiment. I can adjust heat later with either Aleppo or Antep Aci Domla.
No but i might have some isolated seeds left.
Just remembered though. Im pretty sure i had Aleppo pods before any of my other peppers and i did save those seeds from the first pods. Pretty sure none even had blooms at that point and i hadnt even gotten my jala patch planted out yet.
Just went back through my glog. I had 1 jalapeno with blooms when my first Aleppo pods started. The 4 Aleppos had loads of blooms before any of the other plants did.
Just remembered though. Im pretty sure i had Aleppo pods before any of my other peppers and i did save those seeds from the first pods. Pretty sure none even had blooms at that point and i hadnt even gotten my jala patch planted out yet.
Just went back through my glog. I had 1 jalapeno with blooms when my first Aleppo pods started. The 4 Aleppos had loads of blooms before any of the other plants did.