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pepper question

P

pharmerlaura

We have alot of dried peppers we are planning on turning into powder for gifts. I am needing to know how do you stop it from caking in the jars? T.I.A.:onfire:
 
i would say just make sure they are thoroughly dried out and they should be fine. the caking is due to moisture being inside the container from my understanding.
 
dry them until they are brittle. try adding a gel sac to the bottle to remove additional moisture.

welcome to THP pharmerlaura
 
was reading some labels at the store the other day, after my wife posted this question,and some had a chemical anti-caking agent, the ones that Did Not have a chemical anti-caking agent, contained cornstarch...you suppose this does the trick?
 
I often wonder how airtight those bottles are? I get some caking but mostly in bottles that I use often and are exposed to air but not always. I personally wouldn't add anything but make sure as stated before that the peppers are very dry before ground and bottled.
 
pharmerphil said:
was reading some labels at the store the other day, after my wife posted this question,and some had a chemical anti-caking agent, the ones that Did Not have a chemical anti-caking agent, contained cornstarch...you suppose this does the trick?
Click to expand...

I didn't see the phamily resemblance, but now that you mention it...

if you don't have any of those little gel packs (I have no idea where to get them from) you could try a little idea I thought of - get a clean (washed and dried) teabag, add some rice, tie it off and place in your container of powder/flakes. I use rice in with my chile seeds in order to absorb any moisture that may get in.
 
I didn't see the phamily resemblance, but now that you mention it...
Click to expand...
hyst.gif

that would be me on the Right
twak.gif
 
We ground several peppers tonight & we used my blender. We are going to replace the base of it. They turned out nice but still may need something to keep them fresh & dry at the same time.
 
The rice idea is a good one for absorbing moisture. We have used rice in salt for many many years on the southeast US. Matter of fact, a lot of little mom and pop cafes have the rice in the salt shakers on the tables.

There is no way you can completely remove the moisture from a sealed container unless you vacuum packed them. The moisture in the air comes from the peppers that are not completely dry and the humidity in the air. Cycling temperatures will cause the moisture to condense on the sides of the containers. Just my two cents worth.
 
I use rice in my jars to keep the powder dry. No matter how long I dry the chile's, the powder cake some time unless like AJ said, they are vacuum packed. I make about 5-6lb of powder a year and give it to friends and family . I all so save the rice and cook it and it needs no spice in it.
Dan




LET IT BURN
 
according to alton brown on some video i saw about popcorn, rice doesn't really absorb moisture, it simply agitates the powder. he had some kind of powder he made and he used popcorn kernels instead of rice since the episode was about popcorn.

that was the first time i had heard anything other than rice absorbs the moisture. i do have to say that i trust the one disagreeable statement when it comes from a professional cook with his own show.
 
Hmmm :think: You know wild rice might work...the other stuff needs to be boiled for a while (with salt to boost the water temp) to start cooking & absorbing the water.
The wild rice is a different critter though ??
 
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