chinense Tried to dry whole Bhut Jolokia fruits, failure?

chelicerae

chelicerae

Hi, I wrote of this in the closing post of my first glog but the glog hasn't garnered so much attention lately and it was the closing post, so I'll phrase it as a direct question here. Please move, mods, if in the wrong forum.
 
Monday evening I picked these fruits and have been trying to dry them whole since. They've done 8hr sessions in an OBH Nordica "Tasty" greenery dryer alternated with the balcony in the sun and just on a plate in the apartment since.
 
Unlike the cayenne fruits I subjected to the same treatment the jolokias have not dried. They look slightly like nicotine fingernails and they feel a bit like water balloons. (No outward signs of mold or rot). Just now I realized that "stay the course" probably is folly so I cut them in two, something that should perhaps have been done from the start?
 
And they smell slightly odd. Sweet and familiar, but I can't really place it. They haven't lost their sting but that smell appears to attract fruit flies. The smell is almost like something pickled..it's not horrible but it isn't pleasant either and it isn't the standard hot pepper smell.
 
Are these fruits a lost cause? Should I discard them and cut the coming bhuts in at least two pieces before starting to desiccate them?
 
Thanks for any replies.
 
(The image is of how they looked today pre being split in two)
 

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Might not be a lost cause if they are not moldy. Put a small slit in them to let the moisture escape and let them continue drying. I usually split all my pods and remove the seeds before drying. They dry more evenly that way. You could also try freezing them before drying. Freezing will burst the cell walls and drive the moisture out so they will dry quicker.
 
midwestchilehead said:
Might not be a lost cause if they are not moldy. Put a small slit in them to let the moisture escape and let them continue drying. I usually split all my pods and remove the seeds before drying. They dry more evenly that way. You could also try freezing them before drying. Freezing will burst the cell walls and drive the moisture out so they will dry quicker.
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Aha, thanks for the hint. I may try the slit method instead of splitting the next batch. Freezing before also sounds interesting, will try!
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Almost impossible to naturally dried super hots without them molding. 
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Right, though what constitutes natural? Using an OBH Nordica desiccator part time? Even if cut into pieces? Are you saying my bhuts are likely moldy even if they aren't showing any external signs of it?
 
 
I will let this batch dry even if I don't like that smell. One in a sauce or on a pizza should give an indication of whether they've gone bad or not.
 
Thanks. Yes, that's the one. I actually binned these, that smell was spreading across the apartment..like rose water and chamomille. Maybe that's just how bhuts smell when they are drying, I'll know a couple of weeks from now when I do next batch..first frozen, then slit open.
 
chelicerae said:
Thanks. Yes, that's the one. I actually binned these, that smell was spreading across the apartment..like rose water and chamomille. Maybe that's just how bhuts smell when they are drying, I'll know a couple of weeks from now when I do next batch..first frozen, then slit open.
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They definitely have a nice sweet smell when drying. I always cut bigger pots in half, but I've dried small Thai types whole. I'd say a slit is definitely probably good enough combined with more time to dry. They'll take longer with just a slit, but it's definitely possible
 
Chinense pods have too thick of a wall usually. Cayenne, Thai and other thin walled peppers will dry out just fine IME. I like to freeze the pods before I cut them in half and dehydrate them it greatly speeds up the process.
 
I always do mine whole, because I sometimes do as many as two hundred pods of various super hots at a time, there can be some serious fumes if they were split.
 
I always cut all of mine in half then I put them in a dehydrator. I have ome of the cheapie models but it still takes a couple days. Lowest temp I can to save the color. Ive always had trouble trying to air dry anything other than a (thin) ceyenne. Molds every time.
 
I've cut pods in half and left them lying to dry and anything thinner than a hab seems to do well. Still a lot safer bet in a dehydrator though imo
 
Cheers for the interesting discussion. Hm AndyW, that slightly floral smell might just take some getting used to then, haha. 
Scrufy: lower setting on dehydrator to preserve color? That's also interesting.  And (Joyn too) point taken about just sunshine for superhots.
Alkhall: I can believe that bit about the fumes. The cats chew on the plants every chance they get but they weren't even a little keen on the newly split three-days-old bhuts.
 
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Almost impossible to naturally dried super hots without them molding. 
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Jip , almost impossible , unless you have my summer heatwaves of 40-45 Celsius .
Then you can cut them open and leave outside!
 
I havnt had much of a problem drying supers but the fumes are terrible. I run my dehydrator in the basement. If I open the basement door the fumes will knock you down. I cut mine in half.
 
rlslmshdy said:
I havnt had much of a problem drying supers but the fumes are terrible. I run my dehydrator in the basement. If I open the basement door the fumes will knock you down. I cut mine in half.
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Exactly why I leave mine whole. It takes longer, but, I have my dehydrator set up in the dining room, and there is only a faint aroma, even when drying 200 pods.
 
I'd heard horror stories about drying superhots and it acting as diy mace. All I got from drying bhuts cut in half was a nice ghost-y smell with no death by spice.
 
I know the OP's topic was specifically pertaining to Bhut Jolokia, but I believe it applies equally to most, if not all, chiles.

Cutting the pods open will definitely speed up the drying process.
 
I ordered a bunch of peppers from the middle to the end of the season last year and still have peppers in my freezer. Only a few have been bad so far. I seriously doubt I'll run out before July comes.
 
Do some of you just prefer powders or flakes or are there other uses in drying them? I'm new in this stuff.
 
I would think cutting a slit or poking a hole would allow for sufficient off-gassing.  Have sun-dried Cayenne, but I halved mine last time, but if you want to preserve the morphology, suggest do the aforementioned.  Have never had mold issues with other peppers, but with these I do have a dehydrator, and I can see the potential for internal moisture issues.  Even if they are on a smoker beforehand, I will halve them and dry them on the dehydrator, when meant for grinding. 
Best of Luck!
 
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