• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

preservation Applewood Smoked Douglah

R

RubItIn

So I had another opportunity to catch up with Pepperproblem last weekend. We have been discussing the particulars of smoked peppers and he was intrigued to try it based on various posts from some of you. So he unloaded about 4 pounds of various peppers to experiment with. An initial sort and clean revealed an abundance of Douglahs.

I have a few different types of smokers/grills. The first run I decided to use my Weber Smokey Mountain as it would be easy to manage the heat and avoid direct heat to the chiles via the moisture reservoir. My initial approach was to use some flexible ka-bob skewers to string the peppers on then hang them from the top grate. I ended up with 3 skewers of whole peppers for this batch. I got a small amount of charcoal going then tossed in a healthy applewood chunk. Got teh grill setup and decided to try something different, 1 skewer hanging below the grate and 2 skewers on top. I was unsure of what the heat and smoke would be doing just above the moisture reservoir. I also added a small amount of water to the reservoir to keep the pan from becoming a secondary heat source, rather heat and moisture. Dumped the coals and wood and added another chunk of applewood for good measure.

This was a weeknight so I was a little crunched on time unfortunately. This setup ran for about 3.5 hours at 150, slowly burning off to 100. Then transferred to the dehydrator at ~110. Started it on Monday, and they are just starting to finish drying now. The smell coming off the smoker was excellent.

Douglah at Sunset
IMAG0376.jpg


IMAG0377.jpg


Have not tried them yet but thinking they will have a light smoke flavor. The next batch will be more Douglahs, some Black Nagas, Bhut Jalokias and maybe a few others setting up to run on Sunday. Think I will split the larger ones for that session and lay them membrane up. The challenge will be to get a good volume if chiles smoked because of the increased surface area of the split pods. Thinking about creating tears on the top rack for that and extending the smoke time over Applewood to 6 hours so. Should I put water in the pan or just let it be smoke and heat?

Anyways thanks for reading. Big thanks to pepperproblem for providing the chiles.

Also feel free to share a good fermenting recipe. Got another batch for that. :party:

thdancingmilk.gif
 
I smoke pods all the time. I think splitting them is key for them to take on a decent amount of smoke. I have tried both ways and split everyone now. You can smoke for far less time when split and also if you smoke at a higher heat it reduces the dehydrator time. You end result looks good but be prepared to burn. I sent a friend some after I smoked several Butch Ts and he made a few gallons of lentil soup nuclear with a single 1/2 pod. :)
 
I prefer to smoke with no water in the res. because the heat helps dry them like the dehydrator will do to finish them. I do a Heavy smoke for 40 minutes. This is to the point of my smoker blowing back when the smoke lights off. I have also found piling on chips, plugging in the element(it is an electric smoker) for 5 minutes to get them started then unplugging and let it go, yields a 2 hour+ gentle smoke. I have had good results with both methods.
 
Justaguy said:
I prefer to smoke with no water in the res. because the heat helps dry them like the dehydrator will do to finish them. I do a Heavy smoke for 40 minutes. This is to the point of my smoker blowing back when the smoke lights off. I have also found piling on chips, plugging in the element(it is an electric smoker) for 5 minutes to get them started then unplugging and let it go, yields a 2 hour+ gentle smoke. I have had good results with both methods.
Click to expand...
Agreed, no water. First time I used water out of habit and the pods were more moist coming out than going in. :high:
 
I do a cold smoke for my peppers. To me they keep their color better, don't get that "cooked" look. And then I dehydrate them. There's no sound on this video but it is a good instructional on how to build a cold smoker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivMMDnUEpc. This is exactly how I do it. I bought my soldering iron at Harbor Freight for about $1.50.

I do use my Weber Smokey Mountain to make smoked jalapeno poppers though!
 
Smoked a batch of mixed not long ago, and doing another batch next week.
I split and broil them a bit first to remove the "raw" taste, then smoke in a Little Chief---2 full pans of apple last time--until all ash.

Kept a few in the fridge for slicing, but the rest went into the dehydrator and ground up, mixed with sea salt.

Just friggin' awesome on Huevos Rancheros.
 
Spent the better part of sunday cleaning and prepping peppers for another round of smoking. This batch included Douglah, Black Naga, Bhut Jalokia and Orange Habaneros. They sat on an easy applewood smoke for 6 hours, then on to the dehydrator. Finally starting to get my refrigerator back... for now.

Here are some shots. I had to get creating with the grill setup to fit everything.

IMAG0380.jpg


I used a beer butt chicken can holder arranged into the grate to support the top basket that had all the little ones in it.


IMAG0382.jpg



IMAG0383.jpg



Here is the smoked goodies headed into the dehydrator.

IMAG0387.jpg



Can wait to taste how these turned out. Mmmmmmmm smoked powders.
 
You will love them, think I ended up with a few pounds of Naga Morich and Bhut Jolokias on the smoker last night. Ended up being 4 trays dry, they are just as hot so be warned. :)
 
This reminds me...time to make some smoked pepper powder. :) Gotta keep warm as the weather is cooling more and more. Good luck with the experiments. It's a fun project.

Chris
 
Just finished a batch this A.M.
All present and past world record peppers and some not submitted, but every one a superhot.

I can now claim the clearest sinuses in the state for a few more hours.

Will be leaving the Butch T out of future mixes, as it seems it's distinctive flavor is best kept separate, IMHO, of course.
 
Had a chance last weekend to go through and grind up the smoked peppers into a powder.

I had a good slug of dried peppers to grind.
IMAG0398.jpg



IMAG0397.jpg


Since there were so many chiles, I used my food processor to grind them into a powder.

IMAG0409.jpg


This is a blend of Butch T, Scorpions, Yellow 7, Trinidad Seasonings, Aji, and some others that I did not speak. Still enough to make a powder. Yeah there were a few greenies in there.

I had 3 different batches to run. One whole smoked douglah, the above, and the last was the blend of douglah, black naga and bhut jalokias. I spent some time with each batch removing seeds and membrains as much as possible. Then grinding away in my man cave, choking, coughing, sneezing, etc. (Ugh!) I was happy to be done with it after that. Produced so sweet looking powders. This is half of what each batch made, the other half going to my pepper dealer: pepperproblem.

IMAG0411.jpg



From Left to Right:
Smoked Douglah/Black Naga/Bhut Jalokia Blend (Peppers split and smoked)
Butch T/Scorpions/Yellow 7/Trinidad Seasonings/Aji Blend (Not Smoked)
Smoked Douglah (Smoked Whole)

I think they turned out well. Smoking the peppers whole was easy to do, but not easy to clean and make powder out of. Splitting seems to be the better route as others have touted. More work up front, less work later.

Added a dab of smoked Douglah to some Dry Jerk Rub I make, but it clumped and I got a little extra.

IMAG0425.jpg



Turned those ribs Nuclear. Wow! But tasted great! Everyone who had these ribs were suffering after one rib. But it tasted so great initially, followed by the slow creeping burn that seems to never stop. :rofl:
 
Gotrox said:
Just finished a batch this A.M.
All present and past world record peppers and some not submitted, but every one a superhot.

I can now claim the clearest sinuses in the state for a few more hours.

Will be leaving the Butch T out of future mixes, as it seems it's distinctive flavor is best kept separate, IMHO, of course.
Click to expand...
I agree with this, it is being left solo in my batches as well.

kalimazoop said:
Had a chance last weekend to go through and grind up the smoked peppers into a powder.

I had a good slug of dried peppers to grind.
IMAG0398.jpg



IMAG0397.jpg


Since there were so many chiles, I used my food processor to grind them into a powder.

IMAG0409.jpg


This is a blend of Butch T, Scorpions, Yellow 7, Trinidad Seasonings, Aji, and some others that I did not speak. Still enough to make a powder. Yeah there were a few greenies in there.

I had 3 different batches to run. One whole smoked douglah, the above, and the last was the blend of douglah, black naga and bhut jalokias. I spent some time with each batch removing seeds and membrains as much as possible. Then grinding away in my man cave, choking, coughing, sneezing, etc. (Ugh!) I was happy to be done with it after that. Produced so sweet looking powders. This is half of what each batch made, the other half going to my pepper dealer: pepperproblem.

IMAG0411.jpg



From Left to Right:
Smoked Douglah/Black Naga/Bhut Jalokia Blend (Peppers split and smoked)
Butch T/Scorpions/Yellow 7/Trinidad Seasonings/Aji Blend (Not Smoked)
Smoked Douglah (Smoked Whole)

I think they turned out well. Smoking the peppers whole was easy to do, but not easy to clean and make powder out of. Splitting seems to be the better route as others have touted. More work up front, less work later.

Added a dab of smoked Douglah to some Dry Jerk Rub I make, but it clumped and I got a little extra.

IMAG0425.jpg



Turned those ribs Nuclear. Wow! But tasted great! Everyone who had these ribs were suffering after one rib. But it tasted so great initially, followed by the slow creeping burn that seems to never stop. :rofl:
Click to expand...
So true, 1/2 pod will completely destroy 1 gallon of soup. :)
 
"Since there were so many chiles, I used my food processor to grind them into a powder."

Hope it was glass.

I am still in hot water after the wife used hers after I "peppered" it.
 
A few zips of Powders.30+ lbs.
11lbs. pube powder,10lbs. annuum mix , 12 lbs. paprika(sweet) , 3 lbs chinense mix.
Still have more to process.

IM004957.jpg


One batch of Pubescens - 70-80lbs. total.

Before

60Lbs-70 lbs. of pubes.

PICT2183.jpg


After
one of many smokers full - seeded and halved.

PICT2184.jpg


trays ready to grind

PICT2188-1.jpg


PICT2186.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top