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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Northeast
Posts: 260
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Have a fair amount of hot peppers, and was thinking about dehydrating some.
Anyone else do that ? I do some tomato with an inexpensive machine I bought years ago, but thinking about "moving up" and getting a much better one. Anyone have a dehydrator they might recommend ? |
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#2 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Floyd VA
Posts: 771
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I dehydrate peppers every year using my gas oven. If you have the time, the pilot light alone will dry most peppers in about a week. For faster drying I set the oven for the minimum temperature it will hold, which in my case is about 140°F. At this temperature with the door ajar the peppers will completely dry in two or three days depending on the pepper. The nice thing about an oven is it holds much more veggies or herbs than most dehydrators. I have 40 pablano peppers in the oven right now, each cut in half lengthwise with the cut side up. When done I grind them to powder in a coffee grinder, or flake thinner walled types in a food processor.
TomNJ/VA |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake
Posts: 1,244
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My brother dehydrates hot peppers every year. We ban him from doing the grinding in the house. He grinds them outside.
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
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Me, too. I have jars full of dried peppers. I use the Excalibur® Dehydrator which I like very much.
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
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I dry mine in a dehydrator or just hang them. If the small bird peppers I just set them on a tray above the fridge and let them dry. Then I grind them or flake them....all though I do have jars of chunks too.
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: zone 6b, PA
Posts: 5,664
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I have a 9 tray Excalibur and love it! So far it's dried hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes, celery, beets, onions, white and sweet potatoes, garlic, beans, corn, carrots, spinach, cabbage, herbs, apples, blueberries, bananas and cantaloupe.
kath |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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The last two years I dried Cayenne's for hot pepper flakes, and Italian long red peppers for Calabrian Paprika. This year I'm drying a few other hot pepper varieties that will be ground up. I use a five tray Excalibur and it works great.
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
Posts: 1,332
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My family gave me a Nesco dehydrator this summer and it works really well. Someone had recommended that one and my older brother also did some research before he bought it and said it had really good reviews. (It also does some fancy stuff like jerky and fruit rolls, but don't know that I'll use those features very often.)
It did great with both my thin skinned peppers, (red Thai) and the slightly thicker ones. (Cyklon) I dry mine whole for the thin skinned ones and halved and seeded for the thick ones. Then they are stored in plastic bags or an air tight jar. When needed, I'll pull a few out and grind or crush just enough for about a month. Heard somewhere that the flavor stays better that way than grinding it all at once. |
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Northeast
Posts: 260
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Wow....thanks, all for your responses.
The cheap dehydrator I've used for a few years (for tomatoes) is the one made by Ronco. Not really happy with it due to inconsistency, stickiness, need to rotate, and about 24-hour requirement. Not ready yet for the fully-equipped Excaliber (volume I'll do won't justify the $ ). But can get the Nesco FD-80 at Walmart for $ 60. Anyone use that particular Nesco for tomatoes, peppers, etc. ? |
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: selmer, tn
Posts: 2,944
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i like to dry peppers as well as freeze some. the thin skin types air dry easily as well as in a dehyraytor. i have also taken jalapenos, sliced in half and oven dried at about 175 till they are wrinkled and very dark. they will keep in a jar for a LONG TIME that way and they can be crumbled or pulverized and used as a coloring/flavoring ingredient in soups, stews or whatever your taste buds or imagination will allow. Try it, you might like it.
jon ![]() ![]() ![]() Last edited by peppero; September 29, 2013 at 04:20 PM. |
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
Posts: 1,332
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Noreaster, couldn't find the model number on mine, but it says it is the Nesco Dehydrator and jerky maker. Besides the regular drying trays, (four, I believe) it came with some extra trays for fruit rolls and a tube to press jerky into strips. You can set it to several different temperatures and it has a fan.
I haven't dried tomatoes yet, but it handled fig halves very well. And it dried my thicker skinned Cyklon peppers MUCH better than my oven did last year. (So much faster, too!) It seems like it would work well for your average home gardener. |
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Northeast
Posts: 260
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Thanks very much, Livinon.
Appreciate the report......so I'm gonna go with the Nesco FD-80 . |
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#14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 625
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Yes, I dry several kinds but my favorite is the Hot Lemon Peppers! The flavor is good and the heat is high! I also grow cayenne peppers every year and dry and grind those. I have a coffee grinder that I use only for my dried hot peppers. Bless the unsuspecting soul who tries to drink coffee after grinding beans in this grinder!
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 214
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I dehydrate all of the peppers that I don't use fresh or pickle. Got a nesco dehydrator this year and been getting my moneys worth out of it. Prior to that I'd just hang them on strings to dry. Got a batch in the dehydrator now, 3 kinds of peppers. Eventually they'll get turned into chili powder/flakes or used in stir fry or something else like that.
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