How many years can you overwinter peppers for? Thanks
Peppers are perennials so Im guessing forever but from other chiliheads and myself, have noticed a decline in productivity after 3 to 5 years on some varieties.
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OK, you super hot pepper growers. I have some Bulgarian Carrot, Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, and Serrano peppers that I want to dehydrate and eventually make into pepper flakes for seasoning. I also have a few Ancho Mulato that I want to dehydrate, but separately.
I understand coring them, slicing them into strips, and then cooking them in the dehydrator. How long do y’all typically cook them? And afterwards, how do you chop them up? Would a Ninja blender do the trick, or would that chop them up too fine? We have other blenders if needed.
This will prob be our last time processing any peppers, a lot of work this year, but it’s been a very productive season.
Thanks.
I just chop the stem end off and put them in the dehydrator there’s nothing wrong with having the seeds in there unless you don’t want that. Dry them until crunchy. A blender will make them fine if you go to long, I use a potato masher in a large stainless bowl. Superhots in powder form can ruin a lot of food. Hot pepper spices that I sell I leave in flakes for that reason. If you want to step it up a notch put them in a smoker for 3 hours and then dehydrate.
Whatever blender or if you use your ninja don’t plan on using it for anything else unless you like everthing hot after that.
Oh yea, and don’t do it in the house or rinse anything in there either, it’s like setting off tear gas.
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Yes it was very slow to produce fruit as you warned me. I am pleased to get a nice ripe one to taste. The plant is quite large , spreading out very wide although only a couple of feet tall. An interesting pepper to grow for sure
Those species of peppers (pubescens) do not like full day of sun, 4 hours would probably get you best results. They don’t care for hot weather.
Thanks for the reply. I halved some of the bigger peppers, after cutting off the stems. We have a 5 level dehydrator, and all the cut peppers filled all them up.
I started the process about 4pm, and they’re already quite shriveled up, but I’m going to let them run overnight. The house smells like peppers, but not as bad as had thought.
Thanks for the advice on the blender, I may just end up cutting them up with a knife. I don’t want our ninja smelling like peppers from now on.
I dry them fairly well, but not 100% dry, If I want flakes I keep them whole till I use them. I also leave the stems on for easy handling. Conical types seem to dry better for me than oval peppers. Many of the ovals I dry as halves. If you slit those they dry better whole. I like to keep them whole as I don’t use them that fast and they stay very fresh that way. Breaking them up when I use them. Here are some that are three years old and have been stored at room temp all that time.
Very aromatic once broken after three years, keeping them whole works well to retain full flavor.
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I ended up halfing (sp?) all the peppers and put them in the dehydrator for about 20 hours. Those Ancho’s shriveled up to almost nothing, the Bulg Carrot’s not much at all. But they all were pretty dry.
I didn’t want to stink up our blender, so I tried to crush them with a rolling pin, and that didn’t work out so well. I ended up putting them in our small coffee grinder, and just kind of minced them up that way. On some them, they got a little too minced up, ie powder-y.
But I’m pleased with the result, most of them are small flakes. I put them in 3 different shakers for later use. I had one shaker of the B Carrot, one Serrano/Habanero and one one of Pepperoncini/Padron. The Ancho was put in a small bag.
They have a good flavor, seems like it’s a bit more concentrated, but not quite as hot as the raw pepper. Maybe the dryer burns off some of the volatile oils that cause the heat? They’re still pretty hot, but tolerable now. I put some in some chili last week and it gave it a nice little kick.
I use a coffee/spice grander myself, dedicated to peppers and spices only. For whole dried peppers I flake them as needed, I put on nitrile gloves and hand crush them. Gives me the best flakes.
I grew some white ghost peppers and powdered them, Ghost pepper dust!
I like powders too, they just don’t stay as fresh. Still when it’s your own they stay fresh a very long time.
Speaking of peppers, my black peppercorn plant is flowering. It can only take to about 50F so was brought in some time ago. It likes about 1/2 day of full sun, but tolerates low light well. I’ll give it more light in the spring.
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I once put some in the microwave to hasten cooking. OOOPS. Drove the wife right out the door while I opened every window possible.
A question: what is the best pepper for pickling? I’d like to try growing some; our summers are pretty hot and dry.
Am considering Beaver Dam; anyone used it pickled? (I haven’t pickled anything yet.)
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I can tell you Jalapenos and the Long Thai types are great. So are Tabascos. Tabascos and a few cloves of garlic. Yum!