Dehydrate now or wait

[Jade45]

I have a pile of fresh peppers on the counter, and I know they’ll hold up fine for a handful of days without any issue. But beyond that, it’s paper bag plus fridge time if I want to stretch their life and this buys me close to two weeks before they start giving me side eye
Here’s the dilemma, I’m not convinced I’ll have another flush of ripe peppers in that window. The habaneros are stubbornly hanging back, and I’d really love to dry everything in one big batch instead of doing it piecemeal. So the choice is, do I fire up the dehydrator now, or gamble a few days and hope the rest of the crop catches up?

 

[Up_Stream]

...or freeze what you have and wait for the rest of your harvest. Then, thaw out the peppers, and fire up the dehydrator. You can certainly dehydrate previously frozen peppers. Don't forget to cut them in half first. You can find bad peppers, plus they will dehydrate faster.

Good luck with it!

 

[ma1ta1]

@Jade45 I personally like to dehydrate it. Two weeks in a paper bag in the fridge is good, but is it worth risking mold/mush for the sake of one large batch? Fresh off the plant peppers dehydrate the best. Fire up the machine, and just do a second run later if you need to

 

[jalapen0lvr]

@Jade45 I personally like to dehydrate it. Two weeks in a paper bag in the fridge is good, but is it worth risking mold/mush for the sake of one large batch? Fresh off the plant peppers dehydrate the best. Fire up the machine, and just do a second run later if you need to

I started growing hot peppers last year. mostly Thai and Habaneros and just got a dehydrator. Do you cut them up before drying or leave them whole? does drying in the fridge change the taste compared to using the machine right away? I want to keep them spicy!