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storage Freeze-drying peppers

Nigel

Nigel

Hi All,

I was wondering whether the freeze-drying process would preserve flavour and especially heat in peppers. Has anyone here tried to do this? I assume someone, somewhere has done it. I`ve freeze-dried a lot of things, although very few were outside the chemistry lab. Freeze-dried Strawberries and Raspberries are great.

Freeze-drying tends to get rid of volatile compounds, so I`m wondering about Capsaicin and it`s relatives and whether they are volatile enough to disappear.
 
Sounds like you have the needed tools to try and let us know. When Harvest comes around I would gladly send a mixed box to be freeze dried and compared.
 
Personally I just group the pods of each type and in tah the blender they go, no salt or anything plane O pepper mash. Label Ziploc baggies and freeze them for future salsas. I tried freezing hole pods and didnt like the slimy consistency in the salsas.
 
Thanks Justaguy, what a guy!!!

Freeze-drying works by freezing whatever you want to dry at -150°C or colder (liquid nitrogen is best). You then put whatever it might be under a container under a huge vacuum, with a very, very cold source nearby. Essentially the volatile components sublime from your sample and end up on the cold source. Water is volatile enough to sublime, as are many organic solvents. However, I`ve used the same process to remove salts or acids from samples, such as ammonium acetate, formic acid etc, as they are volatile enough to sublime. My concern is not whether you could dry peppers this way (you can), but whether you would retain the flavours and, most importantly, the capsaicins.

I think I`ll go buy some regular orange Habs to try it out.
 
There are companies that freeze-dry bell peppers, but in large scale, i.e.: http://www.freeze-dry-foods.com/en/

The equipment is ultraexpensive and even small scale pilot plants are unpayable for the hobbist.

I though about buying a second hand small scale machine, but you end up at +10.000$ for the smallest and oldest available.

Peter
 
Dam big bucks!! :) How often would you use? Is the purchase worth that expense. Is this for a small commercial venture. Or home use. Very cool just a big chunk of change. :)
 
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