Pepper Sauce Questions

[Tabby Basco]

I have a couple of questions. let me explain it this way.


1st question

How many pounds of jalapeno does it take to make one pound of dry jalapeno or chipotle? or the equivalent question. you started with "x" pounds of fresh jalapeno and they dried to "y" ounces of dry pepper. it also seems to me that it would take more fresh pepper to make a pound of dry powder than to make a pound of dry pods. so please specify. I think you need to dry the peppers more to make a powder than to simply have dry pods.

2nd question.

If you grind up the jalapeno real good to get rid of all the air bubbles. And you fill up a gallon jar with the grind. How much original fresh weight of jalapeno does it take to fill the gallon jar?

The same questions for any other pepper.

Thank You everyone for your assistance on these fundamental questions.

 

[salsalady]

Hey tabby-from my limited, recent experience, I'm estimating about 10 pounds of fresh pods per 1 pound of dry pod or powder.

1 pound dry pods = 1 pound of powder, only the volume would change. One pound of dry pods would probably be about a gallon, but I'm just guessing on that one.

1 pound of powder is about 2 cups volume. I'm basing that on the food service spice jars like what you can get spices in at Costco. Those are usually around 14-16 ounces and are about 2 cups.

for the other question-
1 gallon = 16 cups (divided by 2 cups per pound for powder)= 8 pounds of dry pods/powder per gallon (x 10 pounds fresh chiles per 1 pound dry powder)= 80 pounds of fresh chiles to make 1 gallon of dry powder.


I didn't keep accurate records this fall when drying habaners, but that seemed to be about the volumes that I got. Perhaps another has done a better job of keeping accurate records. If so, then just sub their numbers into the equation above. HTH-

As far as volume/weight for other chiles, I'm guessing 10 pounds of habs should make the same amount of powder as 10 pounds of jalapenos. There might be a difference for thick fleshed chiles as opposed to thin fleshed chiles (thinking that thick fleshed chiles have more water volume in the flesh than thin fleshed chiles...but thick fleshed chiles also have more flesh...so maybe that equals everything out???) I gotta let someone with more experience with different varieties answer that one for sure.

10 pounds of jalapenos would fit into a smaller box than 10 pounds of habs, but should dry to the same 1 pound of powder.


Like I said, this is just my observations, so anyone who did a better job of record keeping than I did, please share.
SL

 

[PepperLover]

too much math for me

 

[Tabby Basco]

I hope we can get some more responses.

Thank you everyone.

 

[Davez Foodz]

Hey tabby-from my limited, recent experience, I'm estimating about 10 pounds of fresh pods per 1 pound of dry pod or powder.

1 pound dry pods = 1 pound of powder, only the volume would change. One pound of dry pods would probably be about a gallon, but I'm just guessing on that one.

1 pound of powder is about 2 cups volume. I'm basing that on the food service spice jars like what you can get spices in at Costco. Those are usually around 14-16 ounces and are about 2 cups.

for the other question-
1 gallon = 16 cups (divided by 2 cups per pound for powder)= 8 pounds of dry pods/powder per gallon (x 10 pounds fresh chiles per 1 pound dry powder)= 80 pounds of fresh chiles to make 1 gallon of dry powder.


I didn't keep accurate records this fall when drying habaners, but that seemed to be about the volumes that I got. Perhaps another has done a better job of keeping accurate records. If so, then just sub their numbers into the equation above. HTH-

As far as volume/weight for other chiles, I'm guessing 10 pounds of habs should make the same amount of powder as 10 pounds of jalapenos. There might be a difference for thick fleshed chiles as opposed to thin fleshed chiles (thinking that thick fleshed chiles have more water volume in the flesh than thin fleshed chiles...but thick fleshed chiles also have more flesh...so maybe that equals everything out???) I gotta let someone with more experience with different varieties answer that one for sure.

10 pounds of jalapenos would fit into a smaller box than 10 pounds of habs, but should dry to the same 1 pound of powder.


Like I said, this is just my observations, so anyone who did a better job of record keeping than I did, please share.
SL

Great information - thanks SL! I've been thinking about dehydrating peppers to make seasonings, and your info here is great!

 

[Tabby Basco]

I have to get to the store and buy some jalapeno and weigh them and then dry them out and get the weight once again.

I was trying to get an answer on the internet but the best I found was that with the red jalapeno that the pepper is left on the plant as long as possible and that it drys out on the plant as it sits there. Thus the answer will change with the condition of the jalapeno.

I also gave consideration to peppers like the Ancho Pablano which is much more dry than a jalapeno and would thus lose less weight.

I also found a scientific paper that as best I could tell it was saying that when the Jalapeno are dried that the higher the temperature the less the weight at the end. I could be wrong on this. But the higher temperature probably blows off more chemicals from the jalapeno.

All a very complex situation.

Wikipedia is also looking for comfirmation of my question. But they want some kind of documentaion of the answer as to where the answer is documented.