Pepper/Fruits

crazy8

crazy8

So this year I will have (if all goes well) about 100 plants. I will be trying my luck at making hot sauce and powders (I will be getting a 9tray Excalibur ;) ). Anyway I had a few questions to ask.
First off here is some of the peppers I will be growing...
Cayenne
Numex Big Jim
Fatalii
Orange Hab
White Bullet Hab
Gold Bullet Hab
Red Savina Hab
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet
Red Scotch Bonnet
Bih Jolokia
Bhut Jolokia
Naga Morich
Jalapeno
Scorpion Tongue
Serrano

I know I am missing a few but thats most of the varieties. Anyway I have not yet consumed raw peppers any hotter than a cayenne. I will be using the cayenne's to make some Louisiana style sauces for buffalo wings and such. Well on with my questions.

1) I wanted to know if any of you sauce pros in here could tell me what fruit flavors would go with some of the peppers listed above?

2) Since I will be getting my dehydrator and making powders I had an idea. I dont know if this has been done or if its even a good idea so again I was hoping to get all of your advice on. The idea was to create pepper powder but to also dehydrate pineapple and such to powder up and blend with certain peppers. This is the other reason it would be nice to find out the answer to questions 1. So good idea or bad idea?

3) This is my first time creating powders and was wondering about shelf life. I have heard spices are good for one year but I know when I pick up spices at the store I keep them much longer than a year. So is pepper powders any different? Would packaging the powders in a vacuum sealed bag prolong shelf life?
 
ok so the pineapple goes well in a sauce but not too sure you would get a "powder" from drying it out. But.... If it does go to a powder... Then I say "ROCK ON!!" IMO it'd be a nice blend with habs but not to sure about the super hots coz I've never tried one. But from my experience most sweeter acidic fruits go well with peppers.
So there ya go, thats one offer of an opinion anyways.
Cheers and happy experimenting.
 
I love the idea of dehydrating pineapple and i will try that. Maybe add some onion and garlic to the mix as well.
 
Yeah I have thought about creating something like a rub or just a seasoning that was a.....well kind of a dehydrated form of a hot sauce. So maybe some pineapple (or other fruit), peppers, salt, onion, garlic, etc. Yeah Nova if you try it before I do you will have to let me know what your experience was. My thought is to take fresh or canned pineapple and cut it in little pieces and dehydrate it. Then once bone dry throw it in the coffee bean grinder and go to town. Suppose if you didnt get a "powder" maybe even flakes would be ok.
 
I'm only guessing here but you might have more luck putting the pineapple through a blender and using fruit roll up trays if you can get them to fit the Excalibur:
med_fruitrollouptray.jpg


I'm still not sure you could get it dry enough to powder though, but you can find out for the cost of a pineapple.
 
The fruit roll up tray idea might work. Another thing I thought of to (even as tedious as it may be) would be to get the already diced up canned pineapple and cut each piece into 2-4 smaller pieces. This way if it at least shrinks enough it should be able to pass through the holes in a season shaker. I guess this is what experimentation is all about ;)
 
So does anyone have any possible answer for question 3? I have been doing some research and not sure I have found the answer I am looking for. Any of you in here do any vac packaging of powders or have good knowledge of it?
 
A year is about right, although provided you keep them in an airtight container (or better yet, a vacuum), they can keep for longer. The most important thing about powders is to keep moisture away from them.

Just my guess...:P
 
Spices can become stale, just like coffee or anything else dried. Coffee is best when you first grind it. Same with peppers, however the shelf life is pretty long, and you won't notice much difference when cooking with it, I don't go by what I've heard on TV; buy all new spices every 6 months... fooey! Make sure lids are tight and you store in a dark area (cabinet, not spice rack near window) and no humidity gets in. Research anti-caking if making a blend of stuff that can cake. You can keep for years if stored properly and will notice little change.
 
Awesome. Thanks a lot. So maybe I wont worry about vac sealing anything. I just get some of those spice shakers and store my powders in those in a dry, cool, dark place.
 
crazy8 said:
Awesome. Thanks a lot. So maybe I wont worry about vac sealing anything. I just get some of those spice shakers and store my powders in those in a dry, cool, dark place.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
crazy8 said:
Yeah I have thought about creating something like a rub or just a seasoning that was a.....well kind of a dehydrated form of a hot sauce. So maybe some pineapple (or other fruit), peppers, salt, onion, garlic, etc. Yeah Nova if you try it before I do you will have to let me know what your experience was. My thought is to take fresh or canned pineapple and cut it in little pieces and dehydrate it. Then once bone dry throw it in the coffee bean grinder and go to town. Suppose if you didnt get a "powder" maybe even flakes would be ok.
Click to expand...

I would stick with fresh fruits mate. unless you want to have preservatives and the like in your powders... IMO keep that S#!T out of there.
 
Actually canned pineapple is usually just pineapple and juice only. Read ingredients, and don't get the kind in syrup ;)

But fresh is always better.
 
vacuum packing spices will keep for years and once opened they start to deteriorate. But like THP says, I keep and use spices for WAY longer than the 6 months the manufacturers say. Think about it...they tell you to throw it out so you have to buy more!

One of the biggest no-no's people do when using spices is to hold the jar over the steaming pot or pan and shake away. Steam gets up into the spices and cakes away. I try to use a spoon or shake into my hand and then dump it into the pot. Keeps the steam out.


SL
 
That makes perfect sense. I never thought of that though. Thanks again salsalady your infinite wisdom never seizes to amaze me.
 
Not to derail this tread but it is kinda relevent. Anyone every hang pepper to air dry? How exactly do you go about it? How do you keep them clean? How long does it take? Is it safe? Any flavor difference between forced dehidration? ...... Crap! I think I may need to start a tread...
 
How about mixing your powders and then adding some of the juice of the fruit to it to make a paste then drying that in the rollup trays and when dryed break it up or run it thru your grinder??
 
I use dried fruit in a bbq rub that I make, I wouldnt say its a powder exactley, it tends to be more granular like finely chopped nuts but Im sure if I used a mortar and pestle on it I could get a powder.some fruits dry much better then others.
the trick is to get it to dry to a point where it gets brittle and not chewy. most store bought dried fruits will still have a lot of moisture retained, this is great for snacking on but not so great for pulverizing into a powder for seasoning.
 
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