Best way to dry orange habs.

[N_FF]

well since i have heaps of orange habs and need to do something with them i was thinking of makeing some dried habs so i could make a powdered spice with them. so what is the best way to dry habs?

 

[bigt]

Best way is a dehydrator IMO. There are lots of threads regarding that.

 

[AlabamaJack]

+1 on the dehydrator

 

[N_FF]

dont have one... that would be one more appliance in the house that would take up space. and arent they quite expesive?

 

[WACOFlyer]

+1 on the dehydrator

+2

 

[AlabamaJack]

depends on what you call expensive...

I have a 9 tray excalibur I use...but if you don't grow that many peppers, you probably wouldn't need one...a nesco or the like would suit you...

I had one of these before I stepped up to the excalibur...

http://www.nesco.com/category_449f7f01f1ea/product_fb6c387313f2/session_352921d2dbf5/

 

[N_FF]

yea that price is reasonable and yea i dont realy grow that much yet. so if i happen to find a dehidrator for a decent price here up in canada i might get one. but for the time being i neather have a local store nor funds for one. so what is a alternitive?

 

[AlabamaJack]

sun dried...you can hang them up in ristras...tie the stem to a piece of string and just hang them...thin walled peppers do well this way...

another way that could work is to put them on the dashboard of your car...they will dry faster because of the heat inside with the windows rolled up...but...your car will smell like peppers...

 

[N_FF]

yea i doubt i will be putting them on the dash... i dont need litle orange riot controll bombs flying around my car... no its not an exacgeration. as soon as i came out of the drive i bet they'd fly into the passenger's seat/lap. lol

would a toaster oven set on the lowest setting with the door open work?

 

[AlabamaJack]

toaster oven may but I don't like to dehydrate mine higher than 125F...and of course, you have to be careful not to gas yourself/your family out of the house...My dehydrator runs in my storage shed or on the back porch...my first dehydrated pods (4 years ago) were left dehydrating in the kitchen all day while the wife and I were at work...we got home and started coughing, eyes burning, sneezing...etc....lesson learned...same with cooking them down to make puree...

 

[N_FF]

yea i had the same experence with makeing concentrate out of the habs also... then i remembered the side burner on my grill and i could always put the toaster oven out on the front step.


edit if i want to grind them would it be better to half them and de-seed them or just do them whole and seed them after?

 

[POTAWIE]

Optimally you want to dry the pods low and slow and a dehydrator is probably your best bet. I like the nesco units, although I've never seen the one in AJ's link before. I though you previously had a Ronco didn't you AJ?
You can also dry thinner peppers near an air conditioner if it ever gets warm enough to use one

 

[N_FF]

dont have AC sadly enough. i think i can rig something up with that toaster oven to get it to be a low enough heat. perhaps a fan blowing in on it if i have to. by golly gee gosh ill make it work lol. still dosent answer if i should de seed them beforehand though.

 

[AlabamaJack]

It may have been a Ronco Potawie now that you mention it...just don't remember...I gave it to a co-worker that used it last year after I got my excalibur and he said he ran it 24/7 for several weeks at the end of the season and he is also using it now...

 

[POTAWIE]

I de-seed large peppers like poblanos, and Anaheims but I don't bother with the smaller ones

 

[UnNatural]

I've gotten decent results with a small fan and an incandescent light bulb.

 

[pappywith4]

you might try tieing the stems to a string that you put in your attic, remember to keep them from touching eachother or anything . Oh and cut a slit on 2 sides of the pepper to get air in it.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

I remove the stem, slice in half length wise and mostly leave the seeds in; although I did remove the seeds from my large Red Habs and was rewarded with a rich deep red chili powder.

If you do change you mind and decide to purchase a dehydrator I recommend this one as the best bang for your buck.

Remember, you can dry all sorts of things with a dehydrator and it will probably be used more and more as you experiment with it. Jerky is what mine is used for most and if you eat a lot of jerky the dehydrator will pay for itself in no time.

 

[pappywith4]

I remove the stem, slice in half length wise and mostly leave the seeds in; although I did remove the seeds from my large Red Habs and was rewarded with a rich deep red chili powder.

If you do change you mind and decide to purchase a dehydrator I recommend this one as the best bang for your buck.

Remember, you can dry all sorts of things with a dehydrator and it will probably be used more and more as you experiment with it. Jerky is what mine is used for most and if you eat a lot of jerky the dehydrator will pay for itself in no time.

yep I have an American harvester / 2 actually so I can get busy if I need to!! I cut mine in half and lay them seed side up on the tray. Takes me about 2-3 days to get it right!!

 

[Dyce51]

I don't have a dehydrater so I collect my peppers, make a couple of ristas and hang them to dry. Takes a lil while but works and they look cool too!!!