preservation Dehydrating Question

[LordHill]

When dehydrating peppers, I remove the stem and slice them in half. My question is should they be placed on the dehydrator rack upside down or right side up? It pulls air from the bottom and expells it through the top, so I figured the sliced part should be up. Last time they took forever to dehydrate so this time I placed them with the sliced side down toward the rack. Just curious what you guys do or if there is a proper/better way to do it

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     As long as it's warm inside and the air is moving, I don't think it matters at all.

 

[dragon49]

I place mine slice down, but I don't think it makes a difference at all.  Don't worry about how long it takes.  In order for the dried pods to pass the snap test, I find it takes at least 8 days in my Nesco.  I do dry at the lowest 95f setting.

 

[wayright]

Slow n Low 
 
I put mine face side up,,but mainly for the reason of saving the seeds
 
If ya aint saving the seed it seems like they would dry quicker face down,,,no pooling of moisture
 
Kevin

 

[Rymerpt]

Patience grasshopper

 

[geeme]

Ditto on cut side up in order to save seeds. You get some fall-though of seeds between the racks anyway, but this minimizes it, so less chance of mix-ups if you're dehydrating more than one type of chile at the same time. Again, low and slow so the seeds remain viable. The relative humidity in your area will make a huge difference - sometimes they dry fairly quickly, other times it seems like they take a whole week. Just gotta go with it. Get more racks if you find yourself with more pods than fit your current setup.

And another thought….. I know you may have only snapped a pic of that one tray to show us what you were doing, but since another member bought a similar dehydrator that didn't come with an instruction manual i wanted to point this one thing out. You should never run that dehydrator with less than 4 trays, for safety reasons as well as for good air circulation. It says this in the instruction booklet, but you might not know it if you didn't receive the booklet. 

 

[LordHill]

I in fact did not know I needed to use more racks, in the future I will be sure to do so. I only used 2 racks for this batch. I ran 135 degrees, it took about 24 hours to be dry enough for powder.. I take the seeds I desire before dehydrating. I started them face down for about 12 hours then flipped them and finished them off.

 

[dragon49]

I in fact did not know I needed to use more racks, in the future I will be sure to do so. I only used 2 racks for this batch. I ran 135 degrees, it took about 24 hours to be dry enough for powder.. I take the seeds I desire before dehydrating. I started them face down for about 12 hours then flipped them and finished them off.

At 135 F, I'm not sure if many seeds will be viable.  If you want to save seeds, either save some before running the dehydrator, or run it at a much lower temperature.

 

[dragonsfire]

Cut side up, besides the seeds, liquid could drip down at the start from the cuts. Also use less then 115f so the nutrients are not cooked, 118f food is "cooked"

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Cut side up for 3 main reasons for me, seeds, capsaicin loss due to drippin, and cross contamination. 

 

[tsurrie]

Cut side up for me too... we're using the dehydrator for apples and other fruit sometimes... and wouldn't be cool if someone starts yelling their dried apple slices are hot
Gotta buy one just for peppers soon.
 
Takes a few days up to a week also, using it on "the lowest" setting.

 

[alkhall]

Cannot help you there, I always dehydrate mine whole, stem intact. Takes longer, but I believe it retains some of the oil better. Maybe, maybe not, but that is how I do it.