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preservation How long do I leave my Habs in the dehydrator?

E

Element

I got a dehydrator from my brother, and I was going to dry my habaneros tonight. However, I have no idea how long I should dry them for. I plan to grind them down into a powder. About how long will it take to dry them whole, or halved?
 
Hard to give an exact time because it will depend on the temp of the dehydrator, humidity, moisture content of the pods, etc. But, I dry mine at about 115F for at least 24 hours, check them, if not dry in another 12 hours or so I check again.

jacob
 
Ive got a dehydrator and just started using it recently., mine says "fruits and veggies" setting, which is 145 degrees, and cooking time depends on how thick the skin is and small the pieces are. I justed used it last night as a matter of fact! I have found that cutting the pieces small enough that they wont fall threw the cracks, (like the size of a finger nail) they cook within a few hours. You know they are done when you touch em and they are no longer mushy.

xo good luck! nicole
 
You cant overdry peppers unless you are going at a really high temp. I dry mine at 95f and it takes a few days,but, the lower the temp the better color retention,and the low temp lets the seed remain viable.
 
What Burning Colon said +1. There are many variables. I suggest looking up "food dehydrator" on Amazon, then read the user reviews for your model, if it's there. Some machines can dry significant quantities in a few hours, while others dry the same quantity in a few days.
 
Nicole said:
Ive got a dehydrator and just started using it recently., mine says "fruits and veggies" setting, which is 145 degrees, and cooking time depends on how thick the skin is and small the pieces are. I justed used it last night as a matter of fact! I have found that cutting the pieces small enough that they wont fall threw the cracks, (like the size of a finger nail) they cook within a few hours. You know they are done when you touch em and they are no longer mushy.

xo good luck! nicole
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Erm, uh, cooking is not dehydrating or put differently; dehydrating is not cooking. It is technically removing the moisture from the pod. You will greatly change the flavor and lose color and flavor by cooking. 145f is too much for true dehydration.
Cheers.
 
one thing no one has mentioned is that halved pods dry in less than half the time of whole pods...

for me, halved orange habanero pods dry in about 12 hours on 125F

(I use an excalibur 9 tray timed variable temperature dehydrator)

note: if you do dry whole pods, make sure you destem them before dehydrating...sure makes things easier and not near as messy...
 
I dry mine low and slow (95F-105F) and it usually takes about 3-4 days for whole pods(with slits cut in them). You can dry them quicker but the color and flavor will not be the same.
 
Element said:
I got a dehydrator from my brother, and I was going to dry my habaneros tonight. However, I have no idea how long I should dry them for. I plan to grind them down into a powder. About how long will it take to dry them whole, or halved?
Click to expand...
You dry them until they're ready. You'll just have to dry a load or two to get an idea of your dehydrators performance with various pod types.

Halved they dry quicker, whole you can get more pods in a dehydrator load.

You know they're ready when they crumble when you pinch them. :)
 
I've been dehydrating at between 125 - 130 degrees - chiles halved. Seems to be taking about 12 hours - sometimes more, sometimes less. I start checking at about 10 hours and let them go until they're done.
 
I usually go for 135 degrees. Time always depends on a million variables (pod type, size, half/whole/quarter cut, ect)

I'll never do habs whole again, took nearly 2 days versus 1-16 hours halved.
 
Since the aroma of a thing in the air is actually indicative of molecules of that thing being in the air, it seems that dehydrating different kinds of peppers at the same time in the same dehydrator would influence the results (a.k.a. the flavor) of the peppers being dried. Has anyone dried a mixed batch of peppers vs. a batch of a single pepper, and was the flavor significantly affected? Somewhat affected?
 
I always dry mixed batches and have never noticed any affecting others flavor.

I have noticed changes in the expression on visitor's faces when they enter the house though. :lol:
 
Ya. Drying peppers naturally as we do in India leaves the whole neighborhood saturated with pepper aroma.

I love the grinding season in April as it is the pickling season and also stocking season for spices.
 
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