Dehydrating Shishito Peppers Whole Question

[larry_stewart]

I have an overload of Shishito peppers . They are about 2 -3 inches in length, 3/4 inch thick.
My question is, can I just toss. them in the dehydrator as is ? or do I need to score them to allow internal moisture to get out? And what. temp should I dry them at ?

 

[blissful]

I'll tell you what I've done but I'd wager that @pepperhead212 has more experience with peppers than anyone here that I can recall.

I slice them in half, seed them, dehydrate, grind, or cut in half, seed them, smoke them then dehydrate them, grind. I use them for seasoning. I've also left pepper seeds and ribs in serrano peppers and dehydrated and later made hot sauce with it. I'd use 125-135 deg F.

I'm interested in finding out if I can string together serrano peppers decoratively and dry them to hang. Do I need to slit them to get air into them to dry better? Do they need to go in the dehydrator or can they air dry?

 

[GotGarlic]

Scoring or slicing will help them dehydrate more evenly.

This site describes several methods: Drying Chili Peppers

Whether you dry them in a dehydrator or air-dry depends in part on how humid your environment is. Making a ristra (decorative dried and strung peppers) is traditional in the Southwest United States and northern Mexico, where it's hot and dry: How to Make a Chile Ristra

 

[pepperhead212]

Anytime I dry the larger peppers, I slit them, or cut them in half, and dehydrate them. And I always remove the stems - no sense having to remove those when dry. Around here, it gets too humid too frequently to dry at room temp.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I have some Thai peppers I stole off a neighbor's plant that I am allowing to dry naturally. Then I will use them in Kung Fu chicken. That's like Kung Pao chicken but you have to kill the chicken with your bare hands, and then the Thai peppers are gonna kick your ass!

 

[pepperhead212]

Thai peppers are very thin fleshed and skinny, and will usually dry naturally, w/o molding. I use more of those than any other peppers, in Thai, Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Mexican cooking - any of the short, skinny, fairly hot dry varieties used in those foods, I use the Thai peppers instead.

 

[larry_stewart]

The shishitos are drying nicely, keeping their color. A few were ' ballooning ' a bit, so I just pierced them with a knife, they deflated and now getting nice and dry. I like the pre-smoking idea , so I may try that with the next batch.

 

[blissful]

I have some Thai peppers I stole off a neighbor's plant that I am allowing to dry naturally. Then I will use them in Kung Fu chicken. That's like Kung Pao chicken but you have to kill the chicken with your bare hands, and then the Thai peppers are gonna kick your ass!

you stole peppers from the neighbors! Killed a chicken with your bare hands. lol

 

[larry_stewart]

Here they are dried.
When you shake them, they sound like little pepper shaped maracas.