Dry peppers?

[C3mommy]

Has anyone dried their own peppers? If so how do you do it?

 

[noodles123]

Yes-- make a ristra.
If they are cayenne, Arbol, Bird's eye, or sometimes even small Serranos this is very easy- all you need is a needle and a thread. Tie a knot on the end of a spool of sewing thread and sew through the green/stem area of the peppers...String them on and then wrap the string around a knob or something else and allow the peppers to hang. They will dry out, as long as they are not too large. Wash hands with an oil cutting soap afterwards.

 

[C3mommy]

I have a pablano, anahiem, jalapeno, and a serrano! Is there anyway to do it in the oven etc? I have small kids and no where to tie them where they can't get to them or other animals can't get them.

Yes-- make a ristra (sp?)
If they are cayenne this is very easy- all you need is a needle and a thread. Tie a knot on the end of the threat and sew through the green/stem area of the pepper...String them on and then wrap the string around a knob or something else and allow the peppers to hang. They will dry out, as long as they are not too large.

 

[noodles123]

Hmm...well, the milder peppers could be dehydrated in a dehydrator (only if you are sure they are ACTUALLY mild), but never try to dehydrate a hot pepper in a dehydrator (I did this once..it made me cough for many hours and I am sure it would not be healthy for a bird). If you plant peppers near other, hotter peppers, the "mild" peppers can become hot. I tried an Anaheim pepper (mild) that was quite hot (because it was grown near a bunch of cayenne and jalapenos). Water levels during growth periods can also increase or decrease peppers' heat. If you have a covered porch or a shed, you could run a dehydrator outside.

If you heat hot peppers, you are going to be coughing as soon as they get to that roasting point. My dad used to dry roast Thai peppers and cayenne varieties and it was like being maced...no joke lol. We all ate spicy food as kids, but this was like a lung thing lol.

With the serranos, you could put a tiny planter/light hook in the ceiling and hang them off of that (no one would be able to reach it). Just check for mold---if you see any mold or black spots, then the drying isn't working and I would toss the batch.

I have seen peppers dry out on my kitchen counter during the winter months when humidity is low, but again, they are not usually the larger peppers. It sort of depends on what you intend to do with them. I would eat a questionable pepper, but I wouldn't feed it to my bird.

If you want to preserve them and you aren't worried about texture, freezing can work.

 

[ChristaNL]

They are a staple in the parrotfood I buy -> the birds hate them ...
so no drying them here.

 

[GaleriaGila]

So! Noodles knows peppers!

I agree with all that. Out West, with humidity hovering around 10-15%, we often made ristras ('wreaths') of favorite types of chiles, hanging them in the kitchen or wherever to dry. Here on the humid Lake Erie North Coast, well... it's not as easy, but can still be done.

The Rb LIVES for fresh green chiles, and in recent years, they're available year 'round here, so I just buy those.

 

[EllenD]

My birds LOVE dried peppers, the Higgins California Blend and the Tropimix seed-mixes contain dried peppers, cayenne I believe, and Kane goes absolutely insane for them, he rips them open like they are full of crack or something and eats the seeds like he's not eaten in weeks! They also all love fresh Bell Peppers, though I've not tried any other fresh varieties...

The Wegmans her actually sells packages of different types of already-dried peppers, they have a ton of varieties, everything up to dried Ghost Peppers...And they're cheap too. So I often buy a packaged of dried Chillis or Serranos and use them to bribe Kane with, works like a charm...

I absolutely would not try to dry peppers in your oven, microwave, dehydrator, etc.! That's going to end very badly and you're going to be extremely sorry that you did it, because you're not actually "drying" them in the oven at all, you're "baking" or "roasting" them, and that will only result in all of the oil being released into the air...Now the first problem with this is that all of the flavor of the pepper that your birds like will be gone, where as if you actually hang them up and dry them, the oil doesn't dissipate into the air, it remains in the peppers...But that's not the real issue with baking them/roasting them, because the second that oil hits the air in your house, you're going to go from everything is fine to agony in a few seconds flat! And if you're using any really hot varieties then forget about it, your lungs will burn and you'll have the worst coughing fit of your life, and at the same time your eyes are going to be burning and watering for hours....I don't know what that would do to your birds, but I'm assuming the same thing...They can eat hot peppers because they don't have the taste-bud receptors for capsaicin, but that has nothing to do with their lungs breathing in the oil, so my guess is that you may even end-up really hurting them or worse if you do that...

If you have a dehumidifier, then stringing the peppers up in a closet or small room with the dehumidifier running would work...Like a pantry would be perfect...

 

[wrench13]

Thanks for the warning folks. Its almost imposssible to find dried habenaros and hotter peppers here on Long Island, and Salty boy does love his hot peppers. I was tempted to try roasting some a whille ago, but never did - now I am glad I did not.