Drying habaneros to use as meat seasoning.

[Matt86]

My grandma just gave me three 1-quart size freezer bags full of habanero peppers straight from her garden. I have always wanted to try to make my own meat seasoning with a base of dried habanero to use for grilling and jerky making. This is my first time trying to dry peppers but the method below seems to work realy good.

1-Put peppers on a baking sheet.
2-turn oven on lowest setting. (i think mine is around 150 or 200)
3-place peppers in the oven and leave the oven door slightly cracked
4-turn every hour or so.
5-continue untill crisp

the peppers i had dried out in about 4 hours this way. I also want to try sun drying and im about to make a screen to go over my peppers to keep flys and bugs off of em when i set em out to dry...ill let you folks know how that one goes and ill also post my recipe for meat/jerkey seasoning if it turns out alright.

[Rick]

You left out the most important part. Rubber gloves BEFORE handling peppers. Seriously, hot peppers should be handled with gloves. If you don't you'll regret it for days to follow. Your cuticles will burn for days and everything (YES everything!!) you touch will burn.

Otherwise.....great job.

[Matt86]

RICK THANK YOU!!!! I did forget to mention that...i acualy made the mistake of rubbing my left eye and my nose hours after i touched those peppers and it still burned like mad!

[Rick]

I think the hardest part for me is seeding the peppers and slicing them. The hotter they hard the harder it is to breath. The capsaicin must become airborne when you cut them open because it's almost impossible to breath anywhere near them after just a few minutes of working on them.

[crashdive123]

Nice job. I used to love things spiced up with habanero peppers. I guess I still do....they just don't love me as much anymore.

[Matt86]

I think the hardest part for me is seeding the peppers and slicing them. The hotter they hard the harder it is to breath. The capsaicin must become airborne when you cut them open because it's almost impossible to breath anywhere near them after just a few minutes of working on them.

Yeah i know what ya mean! but after a few minutes of that i dont have any sinus problems for a while!

[Rick]

Or nose hair or eye lashes or eye brows or ............

[Matt86]

Nice job. I used to love things spiced up with habanero peppers. I guess I still do....they just don't love me as much anymore.

I just turned 23 but i can tell spicy stuff is starting to take more of a toll on me than it use to...It always burns more coming out than it did going down..

[crashdive123]

Eat lots of ice cream. I do. The next morning you can hear the calls of "COME ON ICE CREAM" from that little room with reading material.

[Ken]

Another mission for Quality Control. Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.


The way I see it is, if the peppers are bothering you, you ain't eating enough of them. Once you've burned a protective layer of cells along your digestive tract, everything should be okay.

And for you wimps out there - you know who you are - the "cure" for high Scoville Units is orange juice, both when eating peppers and when digesting them.

[nell67]

Brave man drying them in the oven,I did that with cayene peppers,and you couldn't stand to be in the house the smell was that strong,made you tear up,and my sister went into an asthma attack,pulled them puppies outta the oven,strung them up and hung them from the clothes line to dry in the sun.

[Matt86]

Brave man drying them in the oven,I did that with cayene peppers,and you couldn't stand to be in the house the smell was that strong,made you tear up,and my sister went into an asthma attack,pulled them puppies outta the oven,strung them up and hung them from the clothes line to dry in the sun.

My cousin has asthma..ill try to remember not to dry peppers with him over..

can you tell a difference in the taste of sun dried vs oven dried peppers?

[nell67]

My cousin has asthma..ill try to remember not to dry peppers with him over..

can you tell a difference in the taste of sun dried vs oven dried peppers?

Nah,I can't anyway,never heard anyone say they did either.

[Matt86]

ah alright. thanks!

[Ken]

My cousin has asthma..ill try to remember not to dry peppers with him over.

My ex-wife has asthma. I think I'll invite her over and dry some peppers in the oven.

[Matt86]

My ex-wife has asthma. I think I'll invite her over and dry some peppers in the oven.

Let us know how that goes Ken! LOL!!!!!!

[skunkkiller]

peppers just string threw stem and hang in the house some where and let them dry. I have some that have been hanging for 9 years and still good.but gloves are a must.

[canid]

if you like a smokey or roasted flavor in your chilies, you can oven roast them untill tender, and then dry/dehydrate them.

they won't get any less hot, but the complexity of what flavor you can still tate after your tastebuds have melted off nicely will be enhanced.

[Matt86]

if you like a smokey or roasted flavor in your chilies, you can oven roast them untill tender, and then dry/dehydrate them.

they won't get any less hot, but the complexity of what flavor you can still tate after your tastebuds have melted off nicely will be enhanced.

I gotta try it that way...sounds like it would work good with oak smoked jerky...mmmmmmm *homer simpson drool*

[canid]

it's better for fuller flavored chilies. i like to use the method for pasillas.