Smoking/Drying Japlapeno's

Why1504 · July 2005

I got 30 Japlapenos for free and want to smoke some of them and dry some of them. I have a guru, to assist in controling the temps, any suggestions?

Why1504 · July 2005

Anyone???

Unknown · July 2005

You can make some really nice chipotles with them if they are red and ripe. I did this a few years ago with habañeros and am scratching my head trying to remember how I did it. Ii seem to recall using pecan wood and smoking the indrect at a temperature of around 150F for a while (many hours), then moving them over to a food dehydrator (I think I borried it from NatureBoy, actually) to finish them off. The traditional method involves digging a pit and using smoldering pecan wood smoke vented into a smoker box full of peppers.

Here is a lot of info on chipotles:

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/ndx_chipotle.asp

And here is one detailing a faster process (chiles are cut in half first to speed drying) for a Weber bullet smoker:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chipotles.html

Hope this helps!

Mike

Why1504 · July 2005

Thanks Mike, the ones I have are all green. Will they turn red? How will they turn out if I put them on green?

Mike Oelrich · July 2005

FNP wrote:

Thanks Mike, the ones I have are all green. Will they turn red? How will they turn out if I put them on green?

Normally, they'd be picked when red. I'm not sure they'll ripen further on the counter without spoiling. You should still be able to smoke them green. The red ones are usually sweeter, however.

Mike

Coldeggnorth · July 2005

Hello,

I do these quite often. I grind my stuff into Chipotle Powder. You can also find recipes on the web for a method to do them in a sauce for storage.

To address your question about “green”, they will not turn red if picked green and have no red showing. Don’t worry! All I can buy in my area are green ones and that’s all I’ve used so far. To address this issue I now have 12 plants growing in my garden!

I’ve adapted info from the web to suit my time and effort. It's a pretty straightforward process and I’ve had loads of positive comments from friends and co-workers.

Here's how I do mine.

Wash peppers

Cut in half lengthwise

Remove stem and seeds (leave seeds in if you want a hotter powder)

Place peppers on a cooking sheet. I use a wire cooking basket. Something with holes is best to get good smoke distribution. If you use a grill, be careful to add a drip pan underneath to catch falling peppers, they will shrink to ¼ size during smoking.

Get Egg stabilized at 200F - 240F

Throw a whack of wood chips in (I prefer Hickory)

Place peppers in smoker and let them go at 200F - 240F for 5 hours.

Now the part my girlfriend hates! In colder months (50F to –30F) I place the smoked peppers in the oven at 150F for 12 more hours to finish the drying process. This will give your house a nice smoked smell for a few days. You could always leave them in the Egg on a hot day to dry.

Drying thoroughly is very important to avoid spoilage due to left over moisture. You also need them well dried to make a good powder. They're done when you can snap them in half easily.

I use an old spice grinder to powder it. BE CAREFUL at this stage. The fine powder dust can burn your eyes out. Wash hand good after handling (don't ask me how I know this)!

Good luck and enjoy!

Coldeggnorth

Why1504 · July 2005

Well according to Bob @BBQ Guru the peppers are in the egg and the Guru is set to 160. I will check them in the morning. I will report on my progress tomorrow. The ATB's we had w/ the fresh corn and steaks were execellent. I did these different, cheddar chesse with high qualitybacon. The wife went wild.

FNP

Why1504 · July 2005

They are progressing nicely. This is my first cook below 200 with the guru, and overnight the temp settled out at 168. This morning I shut the damper down even more. We will see where we are after work.

Coldeggnorth · July 2005

Hello,

Glad to hear things are looking good with your Chipotles.

I neglected to mention that I do not have a Guru. I’m sure the advice you received from Bob was entirely correct for your setup. As I mentioned, my process was adapted from various methods I’ve found. I find it difficult to maintain temps below 200F for extended periods of time. I usually lose my fire, thus five hours of smoking at lower 200F range and the following 12 hours in the 150F range.

Good luck with the rest of the cook and let us know how they turn out.

Coldeggnorth

Why1504 · July 2005

Well we are at 163 right now. It is raining outside and the egg is under an umbrella. I checked them about 2 hours ago, still somewhat plump and soft. I believe I have about 3 hours to go.

FNP

Coldeggnorth · July 2005

Hi,

Plump and soft is not colse to done yet. Did you cut them open? The Jalapeno Pepper has a thicker skin tham most so you need to at least slice a line in them to let moisture out.

Keep the faith... let them go until they are dry and pretty firm/hard. They're done when you can snap them. At this point you can grind or store them in an Adobo (spelling) sauce.

Coldeggnorth

Why1504 · July 2005

yes i cut them open. Just checked them they are getting all shriveled up and much firmer.

Smoking/Drying Japlapeno's

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