store bought dried chiles

chilehunter · Feb 25, 2008

this is nothing more than a little rant.
I bought a big bag of dried de arbol chiles awhile ago, used some of them before not knowing about this issue. then yesterday I was making a little spice mix as I'm riping the stem part off I notice there was some mold/fuzz inside the pod, ripped it open more & sure enough it sure was mold/fuzz inside the pod :shocked:

I know this was time consuming but I cracked open each pod I was using to check the insides a little, & I found several more that had some fuzz inside them.

I will never blindly trust store bought dried pods anymore, I'll always check the insides before using them!

Omri · Feb 25, 2008

Wow that's weird... guess they weren't dried properly.

Sauceman51 · Feb 26, 2008

store bought peppers usually have between 6% to 8% of the original moisture content still in them. they are sold by weight.

Sauceman51 · Feb 26, 2008

make that store bought dried peppers. plus that's usually just the de arbol chiles, japones, and most of the cayennes. i'm sure there are others also.

chilehunter · Feb 26, 2008

the chiles were fully dried, they broke apart with ease when I cracked them open. I'm not looking for the hows or whys this happened I consider it nothing more than a lack of quality control (I also found 1 pod that had a nice hole in it like it was made from an insect)

this thread was meant to just say, hey dont blindly trust all dried pods you get double check them before you use them. if you dry your own then I assume you'll have better quality control.

DevilDuck · Mar 7, 2008

Well, I see one problem. You live in Minnesota. Chances are that those dries pods have been on the shelf for a very long time.

If you go to the store down here for dried pods, there's a better chance of them being fresher because of the masses of spicy food lovers here.

Sickmont · Mar 7, 2008

Wouldn't the humidity level of the place that packed them have a bit of an affect on them? Especially if in the factory or wherever was humid as all hell inside, then the bags get sealed with some of that moisture inside of them. It would seem so to me.

chilehunter · Mar 8, 2008

yes the dried chiles here might sit on the shelve longer than in the SW, but just like mold can grow in fresh pods without you knowing right away & then be dried.

quality control