I've had good luck drying my pods whole. I have a huge 10 tray dehydrator. A few months ago I did a bunch of habanero, ghost, jalapeno, de arbol, cayenne, hot hungarian wax and I ground them up in a coffee grinder when they were done. I had all 10 trays full and this yielded me 1 1/2 of the large spice containers. Need to dry some more since I'm almost out.