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preservation About dehydrating.......

J

JavaScottC

Quick couple of questions for those who have dehydrated peppers...
1. Can I do it inside, or will aroma be a factor? (carribean red habaneros will be among the dried)
2. The dehydrator says between 3-10 hours; I'm assuming about 3 or more for the thin walled peppers I'm doing (cut in half, and ringed for the jalapenos), but nowhere near 10. I'm going to check them as I go, but is there something I should know?

Thanks,

Scott

ps-i want to powder everything except the jalapenos-the habs and thai dragons will be used in a morter and pestle upon completion.
 
gday JSC

1 - better to dry outside if you can as the drier the peppers get the more pepper-spray type gas will be released, esp if you're drying at higher temps
2 - it really depends on the wattage of your dehydrator. just make sure everything is super dry especially the stuff you want to hand grind
 
i will agree how long it takes to dry will depend on your wattage and/or setting of your dehydrator.

1- this depends on the roommate/wife situation. i dont have a problem doing it inside but the aroma is pretty intense for the first 6 or so hours. I personally like it but the wife doesnt so i try to start it out while she is gone and the end doesnt bother her too much.


2- it takes me +/- 48 hours to dry peppers for powder at a setting of about 125F.

I cut mine in half length wise. last year i deseeded this year i wont. maybe i can decide which i prefer. You are going to like the thai dragons as powder. i made some last year and is great. most of the rest of my powders are chinenses :)

good luck. i love powder because it is soooo versatile.
 
I agree the drying time can be very different depending on the model of dehyrator and the temperature. I've found my model takes about 12 hours to dry my carribean habs. I have it running inside the house and it's not too bad. I do it in the kitchen and even though you can sorta smell it in the entire house, it's not bad until you go out there and then it bothers your eyes a little.

Here's what I got going on right now on my table. Dehydrating some and a container of vacuum sealed hab chips beside it. I may be making my chocolate dipped hab candies this weekend :)

drying.jpg
 
dont worry about drying them inside, its not that bad since its low temps. I dry chiles inside & no problems for me on it taking over the house.
& yes it helps to cut open certain chiles to speed up the processs of drying.

for me certain chiles could take up to 2 days to dry, but this is also because I dont leave it run nonstop because sometimes I dont have the time to watch them to make sure they dont get over dried or dont like it to run unattended (Ex. while at work or sleeping)
 
JavaScottC said:
Quick couple of questions for those who have dehydrated peppers...
1. Can I do it inside, or will aroma be a factor? (carribean red habaneros will be among the dried)
2. The dehydrator says between 3-10 hours; I'm assuming about 3 or more for the thin walled peppers I'm doing (cut in half, and ringed for the jalapenos), but nowhere near 10. I'm going to check them as I go, but is there something I should know?

Thanks,

Scott

ps-i want to powder everything except the jalapenos-the habs and thai dragons will be used in a morter and pestle upon completion.
Click to expand...
before I can answer your question's, i need to know a couple of things from you.
What kind of dehydrator do you have?
bottom, or top heat, with a fan or not?
what's the wattage?
Oh, n I guess if you have a garage or a basement, n live with others, then it would be best to consider them.
 
Well, as to the model, it's a Nesco FD-60-it has 4 trays and is 500 watts. It has a 2100rpm motor, and adjustable temp range of 95-155 F. The motor is on the top, if that helps. I was planning (still haven't used it yet, not home enough this weekend) on setting it about 135F and checking as the book is kinda vague, saying it could take 3-20 hours; quite a gap. Anyone have one of these? Thanks, Scott
 
yep I have that same brand & yes it can take a full 24 hrs to dry some chiles, depending on what kind of chile & if uncut. like I said it sometimes takes me a couple days to dry some chiles BUT thats because I wont leave it running while I'm gone or sleeping which might end up only running about 4-6 hrs in a day. they're not fast dryers but for the price they're decent & get the job done. but then some chiles are dried within 6 hrs (again depends on the chile & if its cut open or not)
 
JavaScottC said:
Well, as to the model, it's a Nesco FD-60-it has 4 trays and is 500 watts. It has a 2100rpm motor, and adjustable temp range of 95-155 F. The motor is on the top, if that helps. I was planning (still haven't used it yet, not home enough this weekend) on setting it about 135F and checking as the book is kinda vague, saying it could take 3-20 hours; quite a gap. Anyone have one of these? Thanks, Scott
Click to expand...

Just read this this thread so I went and checked my old timer I have and its 50 watts with a controllable vent on top and one on the bottom.I was going to buy a new one but one day my neighbor knowing I want to dehydrate peppers etc asked me if I wanted one..didnt want to be rude so I said shure....guess he used to make jerky with it..at 50 watts I wonder how well it works.....
I still might get a new one they are pretty cheap..Just wondered if anyone still ran any of these old jobbies and how well they worked
 
I wouldn't be using a 50 watt dehydrator to make jerky as I doubt it would get hot enough to kill off the nasties - in fact it would be quicker to dry your pods and jerky in the oven. I've got a 1000 watt dehydrator and it takes 7-8 hours to dry jerky, pods take less time.
 
I used my friends Nesco and filled 2 of the trays and let it run 3 days before everything was dried. I did orange habs and carribean red habs. I agree 3-20 hrs is a bit vague.
 
well, I just went out into the garage, after 1 hour of drying-let me preface that I cut all the chilis in half, or rings in the case of the hot jalapenos. Not blinding, but there is definately a distinct aroma-kinda like pepper spray LOL. Glad I didn't do these inside, but I'm happy with the results so far, set @ 135F. I snapped some pics of the trays before they got started, and will update with times/finished pics when I am done. I'll be turning them off in a couple hours, as I'm going to bed soon, and will run it more tomorrow.

Scott

ps-orange and car. red habs along with the hot jalapenos
 
ok, here's some pics from yesterday-before with the red carribeans and orange habs, the monster itself, and after 3 hours at 135F. I know they aren't done, but was kind of impressed with what it did in 3 hours; it's still working on it now, as I write. Will keep an update.

Scott
carreds.jpg
orhabs.jpg
dehydrator.jpg
carreds3hrs.jpg
 
the habs dry really well in a dehydrator due to the thin pod wall, though they do give a nice roasty flavour when done in the oven, except for the gas released as already stated...
 
Sorry about the lag time there, heres the picture of the completed powders. I used some containers I got from Linens n things (shameless advertising), but I'm sure you can get them at almost any cooking type store. They have a shaker top under the metal screw on cap-makes it easy to shake some on anything. I had some orange habanero popcorn last night, and I can state without any reserve that ALL the flavor and heat is retained from the original peppers. It's raining here today, so maybe I should get to drying some more:mouthonfire:

DSC_0026.JPG


Oh, and btw, 6 hours total time for drying these. The hot Jalapenos dried sooner, but they were ring cut versus the habaneros which were cut in half.
 
cool thread...think i'm gonna have to try this myself. i have a nesco "american harvest snackmaster" that is 500 watts with 4 trays and the motor is in the top. just like the one in scotts pictures.

any recommended temp to run it at? i guess i'll go with 135 as that seemed to have worked well for scott.

i'll probably grab some habs at the store when i go get some boston butt in a little.

would doing jalapenos and habs have any effects..particularly on the jalapenos? specifically the flavor or the heat?
 
Grafcore,
Not sure about the jalapenos because I haven't used them yet, but with the same dehydrator as me, the motor is on top, and the fan blows down. I had the Carribean Reds on the top shelf, Orange habs on the second shelf, and then the jalapenos. Hmm, might be a little toastier than I thought.
With the Habs, I ran it at 135F for 3 hours, turned it off, started it the next day for 3 more hours; I'm going to try running it for 6 hours straight today. When they're done, they sound like cheap poker chips in your hand rattling around.
Also, with the Carribean reds, you notice the vapors in an enclosed space-my garage had a nice smell for a couple days.

Have fun,

Scott
 
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