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flavor Taste Differences in Drying

imaguitargod

imaguitargod

Are there any taste differences that will crop up in the following drying processes; Air dry (hanging in the air), dehydrating, oven, freeze dried?

Also, what process do the major manufacturers of peppers do?
 
My experience is that the faster water is removed by drying, the less the chile has taste.

Oven is too fast, freeze drying is too fast and both lead to bland chile.

Dehydrator flavor is OK and ristras are the very best method for flavor.
 
GreenHot said:
Grind them or use them whole to flavour sauces/stocks etc.
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so if you grind it do you use it like crushed red pepper or as a seasoning like in a shaker? Can you give me some ideas?
 
Put the ground peppers in a spice jar and shake on everything. You can make your own dry rubs, pastes and chili powders too.
 
naganero said:
so if you grind it do you use it like crushed red pepper or as a seasoning like in a shaker? Can you give me some ideas?
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Hi,
Ground chile is chile powder (don't know if you knew that, but thought I'd mention it anyway). You can grind whole dried chiles in a spice grinder and use the powder or you can rehydrate the whole chile pods removing stems (and seeds if you don't want the dish all that hot), soaking theem in a little hot water (just enough to cover the chiles), letting them soak for about 10 minutes and grinding to as fine a paste as you can in a blender.

What you make with it depends a lot on how hot the chile is. If it's really hot, use it as a seasoning in a dish, if it's milder, use in dishes like New Mexico style Chile Con Carne oe Mole where the chile is the main part of the sauce.

There are literally millions of ways to use dried chile. What kind of chiles do you have or want to use? And what kind of dishes do you like?
 
As AZ said, ground chilli is chilli powder, if they're properly dried you can do it with a mortar and pestle or probably just a rolling pin and chopping board (But you'd waste alot).

You can use it to sprinkle on food or use it to make sauces, a very easy one is just to mix it with some ketchup.
 
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