preservation Drying Peppers

[AlabamaJack]

All I can say is.........OK

 

[wordwiz]

I am turning them each afternoon when I get home from work...don't know if this is going to work or not with the thicker fleshed peppers like the hungarians...they have turned kinda brown and soft....

I will just wait and see how this goes on this first batch of peppers....the nagas are being treated special....

AJ,

An idea - peppers need air to dry also. Get a couple of 2x2 boards and make a frame. Cover it with screening, the type used to repair screen windows. You could make a rack, like you did for your seeds. Then use a fan to circulate the air. In a 2x4'space, you could dry literally hundreds of chilies at once.

Re: smoking them. I smoked some jabs last year and though they dried enough not to rot or anything, their membrane was not completely dry this spring when I went to grind some up for a powder. Suprised me!

Mike

 

[streetbmx]

Does anyone watch the show Good Eats with Alton Brown? On several of his shows (jerky & dried fruits) he used this simple homegrown dehydrator setup. Basically it consists of a box fan, AC filters (cellulose or "all natural" type), and bungee cords. You would lay the food [peppers] in the air filters and bungee cord then onto the fan. I dont know if this works with peppers but i figured I would throw this idea out there.

This is the best set of pictures I could find illustrating this method in action. http://burntlumpia.typepad.com/burnt_lumpia/2008/04/filipino-tapa.html