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preservation Drying frozen peppers

I have a bunch of peppers in the freezer from last season. As my new crop comes in I need to make room in the freezer. I assume I can dehydrate peppers that were frozen , am I right? I know they'll be mushy after being thawed. But they should still make a nice powder , right ?

Should I cut the peppers in half or leave them whole. I plan to grind the seeds up too. If anyone has done this and has any tips I'd love to hear them.

Thanks & Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
PD- I haven't done peppers but I have dehydrated a lot of other fruits and veggies.


I'd definitely suggest to cut in half. It will help your drying time and minimize the opportunity for mold growth.

Do you have a dehydrator or will you be air drying?
 
Thanks salsalady ,

I do have a dehydrator. It'd take for every to air dry them , at least in my house.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
I haven't tried dehydrating frozen peppers yet but from what I read you let them thaw, pat them dry. Split the pods in half and let them dry in the dehydrator. That should work fine for powders. Many people are doing this so it's worth a try. It's time to clear out my freezer as well to make room for this year's crop.
 
I'd like to thank everyone for their help. SS too , his help was from a pm. I didn't have instructions ..... wifey misplaced them.So he helped greatly. Here's a picture of my start. I have 4 trays of Grenada Hots. I'm thinking that the drying peppers are letting off a hot vapor , it's been 2 hrs now.

Peace,
P. Dreadie

GrendaHot.jpg
 
That`s alot of peppers! When you say hot vapor do you mean it`s burning your eyes/nose?

Maybe place it by an open window with a fan blowing across it and out the window.
 
Im with you on that one. I dried like 7 lbs of fresh bhuts, and some fataliis together, and we had to evac the house.
 
JSKaiser ..... Glad my wife doesn't read this stuff after what you said , I can hear her now " He's a pepper freak and they had to evac the house !!! " LOL

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
I dehydrate my peppers in my spare bathroom, close the door and put a towel across the bottom of the door. My bathroom also has one of those fans that suck out the bad smell.
 
Ha I dry mine on the patio table - It much quieter in the house since doing so :) - if they need to keep going I move them to my garage to finish at night.
 
I am about to put some pepper in the freezer cuse my reson is to smoke and dehydrate them. But i want to wait abit so i can smoke them all at once and now just in small batches. Is this ok? Or will it affect the taste alot?
And before i put them in the freezer should i do somthing?
And last question, can i still save the seeds after they been in the freezer or do i need to use them stright away. Or can i just put them as normal in a cold place.
 
I was just having this conversation yesterday with RiverBoss. She was curious as to what I was going to do with this year's crop, since the freezers are still full with last years :lol:

I was wondering if from the freezer to the dehydrator would work. I am also considering AJ's "concentrate" canning method.

Let us know how it works out.
 
I am about to put some pepper in the freezer cuse my reson is to smoke and dehydrate them. But i want to wait abit so i can smoke them all at once and now just in small batches. Is this ok? Or will it affect the taste alot?
And before i put them in the freezer should i do somthing?
And last question, can i still save the seeds after they been in the freezer or do i need to use them stright away. Or can i just put them as normal in a cold place.

Fresh seeds conatin moisture and that will freeze and destroy the seed.
 
After drying my peppers the volume sure shrunk !! Which was what I wanted , but this powder is going to be dangerous. I'll have to be gentle with it until I get a feel for it. I had 4, 8 cup Glad containers of frozen pods. That filled all 4 trays in the dehydrator. After making the dried pods into powder I ended up with way less than a pint jar full. I'm guessing a 1/4 teaspoon of powder might be equal to one pod. I'll have see when I use it.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
Yeah freezing them will destroy the seed for replanting purposes. I slice open and remove seeds to air dry and them throw the pod shell in with the rest. I simply go from freezer to dehydrator and let the thawing fly by in there. Works fine. Nice looking trays by the way. Had me drooling. I have never grown Grenada Hots, but now I will be looking for them.

Outdoor shed is where I dehydrate now. Less stress then the basement and having to perform CPR when someone wonders down there and hits the fumes. Someone culd get rich making a filter dome for over the dehydrator for pepperfreaks.
 
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