Drying Hot Peppers

[Grub]

Hi Pepperheads :wink:

The hot ones are really coming through now.

I can't keep up.

Would you know whether you can dry Haberneros. C. Bacc. types seem well suited. Not sure about C.Chinense.

Hope I got those names right

Thanks in advance, Grub.

[Colorado_west]

We dried the habanero . Just had orange kind. DIL dried and ground up hers to cook with. Me I just dried and bagged. We cut open and took off stem and took out seeds. The hot peppers like this put an awful strong smell out in the air as they dry. I have not used any yet. DIL used a mortar to grind up.

[Love2Troll]

Grub,

They are all suitable for drying. The thick-fleshed C. pubescens and some jalapenos can take some time though.

To best preserve heat, flavor and color I slow dry in a dehydrator at no higher than 125°F (51.6°C). A halved rocoto takes about 3 days in my high humidity summers. Although the melting point of capsaicin is in the upper 150s it starts to gas off at aprox 150°F. Edit: According to Wikipedia my numbers are off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

Cut pods in half and carefully remove seeds leaving as much of the placenta as possible for C. pubescens if you find dark specks in your powders to be unsightly. Place cut side up on dehydrator shelf to dry.

If you freeze the pod halves before dehydrating it speeds up the drying time somewhat.

jt

[VGary]

Grub,
Click on the Link for Capsicum Varieties Database and other Information, I posted this morning. Scroll on the left to Drying Peppers.
Gary/Louisville, Kentucky

[cdntomato]

Other great resources:

Jukka is an extraordinary Finnish Chilehead. Check out his main site as well as the link to the new area, Growing, where you will find chile processing information with pics. And yes, that front page picture of chiles is one of his harvests!!!
http://juuri.org/fatalii/

And, of course,
http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/drying.asp

Jennifer

[Grub]

Thanks so much for your prompt replies. Suffice to say, I'm gonna dry 'em. Sounds easy enough. Was going to freeze them all, but now I am definitely trying dried and frozen. And I have a nice big mortar and pestle to grind them down later.

Thanks again for your help.
Grub

[Tomstrees]

Grub -

I picked em all in Oct. and put them into my dehydrator ~ took them about 6-8 hours to fully dry out - spun them up in my "herb-coffee mill" ~ instant heat !
I call it "Toms Green Heat" ; perfect for adding some fire to anything! ~ Tom

[Mantis]

Would pickling be an option Grub. I had some pickled Jalapenos on my Subway sandwich today and they were wonderful. Real nice sweat beading kick.
I'll do some reasearch and see what I come up with.

[angelique]

My grandmother toasted the chiles and then freezes them. Salsas always taste fresh using this method. Unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to gauge how hot the salsa will be (that's 1/2 the fun :wink . She also using this method for stuffing chiles that will be used in tamales, soups, chile verde.

[Grub]

Manto,
I know those pickled ones. They're great. And I have a jar of long green pickled ones in my fridge that I have with a beer. Actually, I'll go get one of each...

Angelique,
Is there a spare bed at your mum's house? I think I need some mothering of the kind you mention. Your food always makes me salivate.

Grub

[JabulaZa]

Hi Grub,
I once made a jam with a lot of habs. I removed most of the seeds out of a hundred or so habs and used a general jam recipe. It had a wonderful orange colour and could've been mistaken for apricot.
We used it on cold meets and also in cooking.

Oh, and was wonderful with cheese and mater on a slice of bread. Wish I had some now.

I might next time try making a sauce, but don't have a great supply of habs since my dad sold the plot. (and not to my brother who did most of the growing.)

Dave

[Colorado_west]

Dave, what kind of gen jam recipe. Like apple or such for base???? Must of had something besides peppers???I can think of sure jell and sugar. I have bought hot pepper jelly. It was good. I think apple juice in that.

I been making corn bread muffins like 6 at a time. I added 1/2 of dried habanero to it and it was pretty spicey for me. I ground it up and add to batter.

[JabulaZa]

Hi Col

I threw all the habs through a food processor, boiled with sugar till fine and added lemon juice close to the end, nothing else.
I think a couple of apricots could do wonders as well.

Dave

[cdntomato]

This recipe appeared in a popular Canadian canning publication. It was developed by a lovely retired gentleman whom I knew slightly when he worked as a guard on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. He now has a small company that makes really wonderful preserves like the one below. Look out for 'The Feasting Table' labels if you are ever in Ottawa.

Habanero Gold Jelly

1/3 cup finely sliced dried apricots
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 up finely diced red onion
1/4 cup finely diced sweet red pepper
1/4 cup finely diced habanero peppers, including seeds
OR 1/4 cup diced, combined jalapeno and Scotch Bonnet peppers
3 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin

Cut apricots into 1/8 inch slices. Measure into a large deep stainless steel saucepan with vinegar; let stand 4 hours. Individually, cut onion and seeded peppers into 1/8 inch slices; cut slices into 1/4 inch dice. Measure each ingredient; add to apricots. Stir in sugar.

Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil. Stirring constantly, boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat. Immediately stir in pectin, mixing well.

Pour jelly into hot jar, dividing solids equally among jars and filling each jar to within 1/4 inch of top rim. Wipe rims. Apply lids.

Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Cool upright, until lids pop down, about 30 minutes.

When lids are concave but the jelly is still hot, carefully grasp jar without disturbing lid and invert, twist, or rotate each jar to distribute solids throughout jelly. The jar can be inverted temporarily but do not allow it to stand upside-down for prolonged periods. Repeat as necessary during the cooling/setting time, until solids remain suspended in the jelly

Enjoy!

Jennifer

PS I could post recipes for his Basil Banana Pepper Jelly, Zesty Red Onion Jelly, Curry Raisin Jelly or Red Pepper and Garlic Jelly, if anyone wanted. I can testify to the gustatory pleasures of all except the onion one.

[grungy]

Yes, Jennifer, please do post them.
Val