I did a search and didn't find specifically what I was looking for.
I love jalapenos, and grew quite a bit of them this past year. I usually slice and pickle them and eat them when we have tacos, chile, etc. However, this past summer I had an abundance, more than I wanted to pickle, and ended up losing about two gallons.
I may want to try smoking a few sometime, but right now I'm more interested in just drying them out to preserve.
So, a few questions:
I don't have a dehydrator so can I use my MES at say, 90° or so to just dry them? Or what temp should be used?
How long would this take?
Would they be fine to keep vacuum sealed or would they also need to be refrigerated? Or frozen?
Will they "rehydrate" if soaked in water? Is this necessary?
Do they need to be split open or the insides removed before drying?
My feeling was to find a way to preserve so they won't go to waste. I'm not really interested at this point in grinding them into powders, rather I'd probably use them through the winter/spring for seasoning, chopped up in burritos, salsas, fajitas, chile, etc.
I know people sometimes string them up and hang them to dry. I usually notice this more often with a thin skinny pepper like a cayenne. Don't know if this would work with a meatier and juicier jalapeno, especially as humid as it is here and thus, looking for possibility to dehydrate quickly in a (smoke free) smoker.
I love jalapenos, and grew quite a bit of them this past year. I usually slice and pickle them and eat them when we have tacos, chile, etc. However, this past summer I had an abundance, more than I wanted to pickle, and ended up losing about two gallons.
I may want to try smoking a few sometime, but right now I'm more interested in just drying them out to preserve.
So, a few questions:
I don't have a dehydrator so can I use my MES at say, 90° or so to just dry them? Or what temp should be used?
How long would this take?
Would they be fine to keep vacuum sealed or would they also need to be refrigerated? Or frozen?
Will they "rehydrate" if soaked in water? Is this necessary?
Do they need to be split open or the insides removed before drying?
My feeling was to find a way to preserve so they won't go to waste. I'm not really interested at this point in grinding them into powders, rather I'd probably use them through the winter/spring for seasoning, chopped up in burritos, salsas, fajitas, chile, etc.
I know people sometimes string them up and hang them to dry. I usually notice this more often with a thin skinny pepper like a cayenne. Don't know if this would work with a meatier and juicier jalapeno, especially as humid as it is here and thus, looking for possibility to dehydrate quickly in a (smoke free) smoker.