Smoke peppers that have already been dried?

[brianbray]

I smoke sugars and salts successfully and now some friends have given me a big bag of dried hot peppers in hopes that I can smoke them. 

I have Googled it and searched through this site a bit but find no mention one way or the other...

Any advice before I ruin a bunch of dried peppers?

Brian

 

[davidhef88]

I think I would cold smoke them for a couple hours and they should be good.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

If they are already dry I would grind the peppers first, then smoke. We smoke Hatch chiles every year, but do the smoking when they are fresh. I always grind dried peppers first then smoke. You can cold smoke or hot smoke.

 

[davidhef88]

If they are already dry I would grind the peppers first, then smoke. We smoke Hatch chiles every year, but do the smoking when they are fresh. I always grind dried peppers first then smoke. You can cold smoke or hot smoke.

Grinding first is a great idea dirt. I may do this with the two shopping bags of dried cayennes that I have.

 

[brianbray]

First batch- 1/2 hour in very dense cold smoke, under 50 degrees. The dried peppers did not seem to take a lot of smoke this way. They also didn't get acrid which was a relief. I did sesame seeds this way a few weeks ago and they were just nasty.

Tomorrow I am going to try dried peppers at 200 degrees and one hour.

Thanks guys

 

[brianbray]

Intuitively it seems like smoking in the whole would work better. Powder lies flat on a surface but a stack of peppers on a screen gets smoke from all sides.
 

Of course, smoke penetrates everything....

Best to try a variety of techniques I guess.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Intuitively it seems like smoking in the whole would work better. Powder lies flat on a surface but a stack of peppers on a screen gets smoke from all sides.

 
Of course, smoke penetrates everything....


Best to try a variety of techniques I guess.

Actually the ground pepper provides more open (broken) cells for the smoke to adhere to. Even though it's lying on a solid surface. Think of it this way lie a piece of glass on a table. You only have one exposed surface. Now bash that piece of glass up and spread it on the table. You have many exposed surfaces.

I will give spices a stir when smoking them and I always make sure the smoke is good TBS and not heavy white smoke. I have smoked sesame seeds and never had them taste acrid. From your description it sounds like your smoke was too thick. That would lead to anything being acrid.