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| Air-drying peppers? http://cookaholics.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4628 |
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| Author: | TheFuzzy [ Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Air-drying peppers? |
Dave, this is a Q for you. I have too many peppers, and would like to dry some of them. I don't have a dehydrator, but humidity is running really low lately, 15-20% some days. Can I "sun dry" peppers? Any tips? |
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| Author: | pepperhead212 [ Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Depends on the peppers. Thin fleshed peppers, like Thai, numex, and long hot cayenne types, dry easily. Thick fleshed peppers, like jalapeños, could rot, before drying, at least at higher humidity. I can't even imagine 15-20% humidity! You could spread them out on a screen, and maybe help the drying with a fan? I've had incredible numbers of peppers this year, due to the heat, and I dried most of them, so far. Twice I've had all 9 trays in my dehydrator filled at once! |
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| Author: | Cubangirl [ Sat Aug 31, 2019 7:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Josh, do you have a smart toaster oven? My Breville can dehydrate. |
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| Author: | TheFuzzy [ Sat Aug 31, 2019 10:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Alina, I don't. I'm also not likely to get a dehydrator because I just don't produce enough or anything that dries to justify it (mostly we have lots of cucumbers and strawberries, each of which requires a different preservation technique) |
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| Author: | cmd2012 [ Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Peppers freeze pretty well if you only intend to cook with them. Grate them frozen on a micro plane like ginger or chop them frozen for dishes. |
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| Author: | TheFuzzy [ Fri Sep 20, 2019 9:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Carey, Dave: Humidity level went up, so I made salsa and jarred it. |
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| Author: | pepperhead212 [ Fri Sep 20, 2019 11:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
On the topic of too many peppers, here are the peppers I've gotten...so far. There are still a lot out there! And I downsized my peppers this year - only 27 plants. https://www.flickr.com/photos/91097628@ ... 9058946617 I have a Mexican grocer/restaurant right here in town, and this week, on two different occasions, I took the owner a batch of peppers - I figured that I have way more than I need dried, as well as frozen already, so I took them up there. I had over 60 chocolate habaneros, along with about 10 red savinas, and he couldn't believe it when he saw them! The last ones were those aji dulce - a habanero, with incredible flavor, but almost no heat! I had given him a couple large bags of red epazote from my hydroponics through the winter - the stuff grows like a weed, and I have to trim it way back frequently. He said that they can't get that kind of epazote here, and it is the best kind, for sure. And I gave him a few extra tomatillo seedlings in the spring. I get deals for all these excess things I take up there, like with the curry leaves for the Indian grocer. |
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| Author: | TheFuzzy [ Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:08 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
What's with the plastic over the soil in those containers? I'm also way impressed that you got plants that big from such tiny containers! |
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| Author: | pepperhead212 [ Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Fuzzy, That plastic film is something that is used in all Sub-irrigated planters (SIP, for short). Earthbox was the first well known brand, and that's what those peppers you see are in. The plants grow like they are on steroids, because the soil mix is always moist, and a strip of fertilizer is put in the soil mix - if the plastic was not over the pot, a heavy rain would dissolve too much of this, and probably kill the plant! The original Earthbox has a cover, with an elastic band, to hold it on, over the top of the container, but I just cut that plastic oversized, and shove it down between the soil and container (I got that method from a guy on YouTube ! there are a LOT of videos about Earthboxes out there!). It can actually get some of the rain, this way, but frequent watering is still needed. A lady in FL posted a promo code for these, way back, and I tried 3 of them. I was immediately impressed at the production of the plants, and the size of the plants, compared to those in the ground. Next year, I got an even better deal, as Earthbox was bought out, and I bought 6 of them. Then I learned how to make SIPs out of 5 gal buckets, and 18 gal storage tubs. Production in these things is incredible! And, while Earthbox has a chart, showing the number of the various veggies that can be grown in them, I've reduced some, such as peppers, as there is no way of getting 8 pepper plants, growing that large, in such a small place! I learned early on, that I had to hook up a watering system to them - a drip system, going into the watering tube, hooked to a timer. Early in the season, when cooler, and the plants are small, it might need watering every 3 days. In the middle of the summer, when very hot, and some of those plants are huge, it increases to twice a day! |
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| Author: | TheFuzzy [ Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Air-drying peppers? |
Dave, I'm not convinced that any growing method would be as productive for me as it is for you. You ARE the garden state. |
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