Re: [CH] using a dehydrator to dry chiles?
Dave Drum (dirty_dave@chillicooks.org)
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:30:18 -0500
Jim Graham wrote:
> How well do food dehydrators work for chiles? Do the peppers maintain
> their flavor and heat? Or does it screw them up?
>
> I'm looking for a way (without the high-salt + vinegar mash[1] or
> freezing[2]) to preserve peppers from my garden until I'm ready to
> use them, which could be the same day, or it could be a month or
> more...and, of course, habs don't store well, even in the fridge.
>
> Any suggestions on brand/model (can't spend more than about $30),
> settings, etc.?
I have and use the most basic American Harvest dehydrator available.
And that only because I moved into this trailer with all-electric
appliances and cannot use my (former) gas stove's oven pilot light to
dry chilies.
It works well, has NO adjustments and NO FAN. I have used the
resulting dried chilies to rehydrate for my YAHOOOOAHHHH Hot Sauce as
well as to grind for other uses. All the heat and most of the flavour
seem to be there.
And the house smells SO WONDERFUL when the chilies are drying.
Sometimes I will go to the stupormarkup and make a deal with the
produce manager to take all of his "expired" chilies off his hands
(limp, discoloured, nearly dead - but not rotten) and fire up the
dryer just for the aroma.
Then I have the problem of grinding the dried chilies and finding a
stash for them. Mostly I take them to chilli cook offs and give them
to soe of my chilli cook buddies. No two batches the same. Bv)=
--
ENJOY!!!
From Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
Home of YAHOOOOAHHHH Hot Sauce & Hardin Cider
... A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well
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