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drying 1st time Dehydrating peppers

R

Rherman1

This is the first time trying this, so we shall see what happens..... Red, Yellow, Chocolate 7-pot and Ghost peppers. Using a nesco dehydrator.
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Nice!  You'd cut them small enough and everything should be fine - might take a couple days though depending on ambient temps in the house.  I have a nesco similar to that one and dry most of my peppers around 105 degrees.  They're good to go in a couple three days on mine, and can be bagged for adding to sauces later on or ground into powders easily for blends.  Great way to stretch the summer yield!
 
I tried to get most of the seeds out, do you have any problems with them germinating the next year after drying? They are on the porch drying.
 
SmokenFire said:
Nice!  You'd cut them small enough and everything should be fine - might take a couple days though depending on ambient temps in the house.  I have a nesco similar to that one and dry most of my peppers around 105 degrees.  They're good to go in a couple three days on mine, and can be bagged for adding to sauces later on or ground into powders easily for blends.  Great way to stretch the summer yield!
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I also have a Nesco (perhaps a different model, as it is round as opposed to square).  I have always used the "Fruit and Vegetables" temp, which is 135 degrees.  Do you think you get better flavor by going lower and slower at 105 degrees?  I actually just put on some Cumari peppers, maybe I'll lower it to 105. 
 
BB
 
BurninBob said:
 
...Do you think you get better flavor by going lower and slower at 105 degrees?
 
BB
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Yup; better flavor, preserves color and seeds remain viable. Higher heat darkens pods, dulls flavor and kills seeds.
 
DR said it just like I would have Bob - I used to dehydrate using the nesco settings but wasn't happy losing the color.  
 
Just throwing in my late 2 cents worth.  I dried most of my pods at 105˚ in a round Nesco dryer.  
The color of the low temperature dried pods is so superior to ones dried at higher temps in
a neighbor's dryer, so +1 #9.  The dryer instructions say 105˚ for seeds.  
 
I also was thinking that ambient temperature in some pepper growing regions can be over
100˚, so 105˚ should be in the realm of feasibility for viable seeds   :pray:
 
I could be totally wrong   :shh:  I also dried a few in napkins as I have always done for
about 1/3 of the varieties.
 
Thanks all for the good advice in dehydrators, temps, etc. We bought our first, smaller, Nesco on all of your recommendations and had great success with our end-of-season harvest. It took 3 days at 105* for our totally filled trays. I also have a few covered paper plates with the later arrivals drying on the dining room table.

So we decided to try garlic since we usually have a very good harvest. We filled all 4 trays with sliced garlic and for sure, we weren't going to have any vampires! The garage smelled wonderful, as it had when the peppers were dehydrating.

So a big Thank You to everyone for their excellent advice. This is truly THE place to learn, and the "go-to" place when you have questions about growing, cooking, preserving.
 
All right, good job!  You're on the way now!
 
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