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powder-flake Overwelmed with dehydrating and making powder

chillilover

chillilover

Help! I am having problems keeping my peppers brittle once dehydrting. Today I made powder and am not sure If the peppers weren't dry enough or if some oil or something came out of the grider shaft and made the powder damp. My peppers I stored after dehydrating are slowy getting softer. Someone said I should be able to put them back in the dehydrater. I want to try rice but do I need to bake it to remove the moisture already in it. Should I put peppers back in the dehydrator for an hour every time I make powder just to make sure they are totally dry?:shocked:
 
Chillilover, after dehydrating your peppers always store them in a air tight container and in a cool dark place. Never place warm dried peppers into such container, as this will cause condensation. Take the pods that you have and just place them back into the dehydrator again until dry.

When grinding, never grind for more than about 30 sec at a time, pausing for about 30 sec in between grinding times. Sometimes if you grind too long, heat builds up and can also cause caking issues.

I think you are doing everything right and as long as your pods are thoroughly dry, you should be fine. Remember, just have fun with it and don't breath too deeply. ;)
 
Pepperfreak said:
Chillilover, after dehydrating your peppers always store them in a air tight container and in a cool dark place. Never place warm dried peppers into such container, as this will cause condensation. Take the pods that you have and just place them back into the dehydrator again until dry.

When grinding, never grind for more than about 30 sec at a time, pausing for about 30 sec in between grinding times. Sometimes if you grind too long, heat builds up and can also cause caking issues.

I think you are doing everything right and as long as your pods are thoroughly dry, you should be fine. Remember, just have fun with it and don't breath too deeply. ;)
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Since you said " you should be able to put them back in the dehydrator" I didn't know if you knew for sure but I'll do that. Should I wait until just before I make powder so I don't have to keep doing it?

I'm going to try my magic bullet next time. Do you wash both parts or just the clear part? I was just thinking if I washed the blade part water might be trapped in the shaft and come out when grinding.

if pods aren't fully dry when making powder, what will happen besides caking............ Botulism?
 
chillilover said:
Since you said " you should be able to put them back in the dehydrator" I didn't know if you knew for sure but I'll do that. Should I wait until just before I make powder so I don't have to keep doing it?
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I would get them dried ASAP and store them as described. The reason behind dehydrating is that you are pulling all liquid and moisture out of the food, therefore preserving the food. If there is still moisture left in the food then the shelf life of that product will be shorter than if completely dried. So if your pods have been dried recently, i.e. in the past couple of weeks, then I would say re-dry them.

chillilover said:
I'm going to try my magic bullet next time. Do you wash both parts or just the clear part? I was just thinking if I washed the blade part water might be trapped in the shaft and come out when grinding.

if pods aren't fully dry when making powder, what will happen besides caking............ Botulism?
Click to expand...


While cleaning my Magic Bullet, all I do is rise it out in the sink, remove the rubber 'O' ring and then place the cup part and the blade cap in the dishwasher. I place the blades facing down and both are on the top rack. When done washing, they both go in the dis strainer until completely dry. I've had no problems doing this and this is how I have washed it since I got it a year ago. I even believe that on the TV infomercial, they say it is dishwasher safe.

Food that is dehydrated is too dry to grow botulism, unless it becomes damp. Also botulism grows in an oxygen free environment such as canning.

I have a couple of questions for you...

You said that your pods where completely dry after dehydrating and then they got soft. How many pods are you referring to? What was your drying temps and for how long did you dry your pods. Also, how much powder has caked up?

I am pretty O.C.D. (anal) when it comes to food and food safety. My golden rule has always been: When in doubt, throw it out. This drives my wife crazy cause she uses a more common sense approach, If it's bad throw it out. And there are differences, trust me. :lol:

Sorry for rambling and hopefully others will chime in.
 
Pepperfreak said:
I would get them dried ASAP and store them as described. The reason behind dehydrating is that you are pulling all liquid and moisture out of the food, therefore preserving the food. If there is still moisture left in the food then the shelf life of that product will be shorter than if completely dried. So if your pods have been dried recently, i.e. in the past couple of weeks, then I would say re-dry them.




While cleaning my Magic Bullet, all I do is rise it out in the sink, remove the rubber 'O' ring and then place the cup part and the blade cap in the dishwasher. I place the blades facing down and both are on the top rack. When done washing, they both go in the dis strainer until completely dry. I've had no problems doing this and this is how I have washed it since I got it a year ago. I even believe that on the TV infomercial, they say it is dishwasher safe.

Food that is dehydrated is too dry to grow botulism, unless it becomes damp. Also botulism grows in an oxygen free environment such as canning.

I have a couple of questions for you...

You said that your pods where completely dry after dehydrating and then they got soft. How many pods are you referring to? What was your drying temps and for how long did you dry your pods. Also, how much powder has caked up?

I am pretty O.C.D. (anal) when it comes to food and food safety. My golden rule has always been: When in doubt, throw it out. This drives my wife crazy cause she uses a more common sense approach, If it's bad throw it out. And there are differences, trust me. :lol:

Sorry for rambling and hopefully others will chime in.
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I dried the pods at 130F for about 12 to 14 hours. They were brittle when I pulled them out. I stored about 10 of them in ziplock bags an my dresser(not out of the light.) I felt some pods today and parts are starting to feel a little soft and not crumble when I squeeze them.:shocked: The powder is not too bad. It doesn't stick to the container. I was more worried about eating some oil from china that they used to oil the grinder.:shocked: This is harder than I thought.
 
If you're worried about contaminants from the grinder, throw the powder out. However, sometimes the powder will clump if you used the grinder too long and heated things up. Keeping the pods out of light isn't a big deal if you do that or not. Sounds like you probably have some condensation issues with the storage bag, which can occur if the temps are fluctuating where you have it stored. This is why I keep all of my dried pods in my basement where it is dark next to where I keep my home canned products.
 
I don't understand how you can live with this constant stress and worrying...

If it makes you feel better: Keep the dried chiles in tiny ziplock plastic bags in the freezer. When you need powder just remove one of the tiny bags from the freezer, let it get to room temperature, grind and use the powder.

Or just stop worrying. I've never heard of anyone who managed to get sick from dried chiles.

If you get them from a store they are often processed like this:

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Do you think he disinfected his shoes first?
 
I do think that you may be over-thinking this. Making powder is extremely easy and dehydrating foods is one of the safest ways of preserving food.

I personally use Zip Lock Freezer bags and haven't had any problems. In fact I have one bag left over from last year and the peppers are just as crisp as when I took them out of the dehydrator.

Anything that is air tight will work.
 
I always re-dehydrate my pods before grinding since they always take on some moisture after sitting a while, even in ziplock bags. You can also toast pods on a skillet before use for smaller quantities
 
Pepperfreak said:
I do think that you may be over-thinking this. Making powder is extremely easy and dehydrating foods is one of the safest ways of preserving food.

I personally use Zip Lock Freezer bags and haven't had any problems. In fact I have one bag left over from last year and the peppers are just as crisp as when I took them out of the dehydrator.

Anything that is air tight will work.
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I use ziplocks and it seems like the FREEZER type are much more "air tight" than the regular STORAGE type. They cost more, of course.

POTAWIE said:
I always re-dehydrate my pods before grinding since they always take on some moisture after sitting a while, even in ziplock bags. You can also toast pods on a skillet before use for smaller quantities
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Toasting pods before grinding - that's BRILLIANT! Never thought of that.
 
I just store the powder in old spice jars. (I go through a lot of spices)

It takes a lot of dried chiles to fill a 3-4oz spice jar. And, they are made for it. Heck, mayo jars, butter tubs, you name it..I save them all for use as containers.

Heck, I've got a bagfull of habs I dried in the drawer with all the bags of chipotles, asian chiles and taco mix packets and etc. It's just in a plastic shopping bag tied with a twist-tie...hehehe.

Perhaps your house is humid?
 
Can you say humidity? Your chili's are absorbing moisture from the air chillilover and it isn't going to hurt anything. If the lack of "crispyness" bothers you put 'em back in the dehydrator for a couple of hours. If you can get through it and they aren't dripping you can grind them just like that. I've done it--it will work.

Drop a few grains of rice into the powder then in a few hours toss 'em out. If it isn't dry enough for you do it again.

You have an ulcer problem dude? You have to learn how to take things a bit easier OK? Best of luck to you.
 
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