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margi46

Preserve red peppers?

It's that time of the year that I finally have a nice collection of peppers ripening. Would dehydrating pepper slices be a good idea? I have much more shelf space than freezer space available.

Comments (6)

  • 7 years ago

    Depends on the type. Most thin wall hot peppers can be strung and dried for future use. Thicker wall seasoning peppers can air dried or dehydrated. After drying the can be powdered or flaked.

    https://pallensmith.com/2016/09/26/dry-peppers-ristras/

    https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/preserving-chili-peppers/how-to-dehydrate-chili-peppers-and-make-chili-powders/

  • 7 years ago

    Margi - are they sweet peppers? It depends on how you want to use them. If you want to use them in stir fry or fajitas it is better to freeze them in quantities that you need for the use. If freezing it is better to slice, flash freeze on a cookie sheet and then use a food saver to vacuum seal them in the quantity you need for a recipe.

    You can dehydrate smaller peppers whole if you slit the pepper on one side to allow air in. Without the slits they don't dry evenly. I use this method with my Guajillo peppers and they last for a couple years. I add them when I'm stewing chicken for enchiladas, tacos, or burritos.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Jack - Yes, sweet. I am actually thinking that I would attempt to make my self eat them in the dehydrated state. You know, better to munch on veggies sitting at my desk that snacking on chips or candy. I don't care for green peppers at all, but I am fine with red, sweet peppers. It is surprising to me what a difference there is in taste.

    Hmmm, your idea to dehydrate some small ones whole sounds like a good idea for some jalapenos. My son does weekly meal prep that often has a Mexican flair. He could use dehydrated jalapenos for that, I bet.

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    I dehydrate lots of peppers every year, including sweets. Thin wall, thick wall, just depends on how you prep them. I often smoke some in the smoker before dehydrating- right now I got pan of hot Cherry Bombs on the counter that I pulled out of the smoker and are going to go into the dehydrator in a wee bit.

    Also into a dehydrator is going a batch of sweet peppers meant for making paprika. I don't have enough to make a batch of paprika this year, so I will dice them up and store them diced. I do the same with some of my less ripe green ones- the taste difference is noticeable. We happen to like green and fully ripe.

    Hot peppers also change a bit in taste as they get fully ripe. Green unripe jalapenos are usual. Once they get fully red ripe, they have a different flavor. Scovilles can change between unripe to ripe peppers too.

  • 7 years ago

    I also dehydrate peppers, and I put sliced sweet and green peppers into the freezer. We dehydrated 3 half gallon jars of mixed hot peppers last year, Elery grinds them into powder and sprinkles them on....well....everything. I made ajvar and froze it and made some red pepper spread from the Ball Blue Book, then charred a couple of pans full of poblanos, then peeled and seeded them, spread them flat and put them on sheet pans and froze them, I've used them in chile verde and for stuffed poblanos, it's nice to have them on hand.

    I've never tried to just snack on dehydrated peppers, though. I do have a quart jar of dehydrated Ajvarski from last year, I'll have to dig out some and see how they are!

    Annie

  • 7 years ago

    My sweet banana peppers are not as thick walled as a bell pepper, but they are thicker than, say, the cayenne peppers that I dry passively. I freeze some sweet bananas and dry a lot in an American Harvest or Nesco dehydrator. The ripe red ones do taste good enough for snacking from dry, but only the tiniest portion gets used that way. I dry them sliced into pieces about 3/4 inches X 3/4 inches. We use the dried ones in cooking, mostly soups and stews. The frozen sweet peppers more likely get used in omelet or even salad.