Dehydrated hot chili peppers on the BGE

unoriginalusername

have my first batch of hot peppers sitting in a low slow smoke bath for about 12 hours.  Puncture the chilies with a pin in a few spots to help steam escape and speed up the drying time, bathe in heavy smoke at about ~200 until peppers are completely dry and store in a cool dark space like a pantry. Will hold for about a year no problem.

to eat place dried chili on a sauce pan at medium heat and turn until pepper becomes slightly tender and moves without breaking. Drop into a boiling pot of water, remove from heat source and cover for 10-15 minutes. Pepper will rehydrate and be ready for sauces, chili recipes etc.

a pepper that goes through this process seems hotter than fresh off the vine, with the added benefit of delicious smoke which really makes your chili come to life.  You can skip the water and grind into a dry rub seasoning blend as well.  can't wait to get some of these chocolate habanero's into a chili pot on the egg 

lousubcap

I hope you are successful with your time estimates as my eggsperience is quite different.  The moisture retention properties of the BGE make it quite a protracted event.
Here's a link to my adventure of 2016:  Above all, have fun and gloves are highly recommended. 
The annual low BGE temp hi-heat habanero smoke down  

bgebrent

I like this a lot.  Very original . Nice post.

lkapigian

Agree with @bgebrent great post. Moisture is tough in the Egg top off and control the intake 

unoriginalusername

lousubcap said:

I hope you are successful with your time estimates as my eggsperience is quite different.  The moisture retention properties of the BGE make it quite a protracted event.
Here's a link to my adventure of 2016:  Above all, have fun and gloves are highly recommended. 
The annual low BGE temp hi-heat habanero smoke down  

Thanks. Just took them off the grill as they finished ahead of schedule. Try poking holes in the top, bottom, side and using dry wood chips for lots of smoke that penetrates and dehydrates the peppers pretty quickly. I went from 24 hours to about 10-12 using this method. 

unoriginalusername

These ones are done and heading to the pantry 

lousubcap

@unoriginalusername - congrats.  I routinely split before I start the process but don't get to the dried grinder powder consistency for  many more hours.  As this is an annual event for me, I will try your approach on a group of peppers this fall.  

unoriginalusername

lousubcap said:

@unoriginalusername - congrats.  I routinely split before I start the process but don't get to the dried grinder powder consistency for  many more hours.  As this is an annual event for me, I will try your approach on a group of peppers this fall.  

Thanks. You get the consistency but sacrifice the brilliant colors this way as the higher heat and multiple hits of smoke to dehydrate end up making most peppers looking the same.  As mine often go into chili vs a pepper grinder I don't mind, but I do envy in your pictures that you retained some of the great color combos.

i used a toothpick and did about 4 holes in the top, a few in the bottom and one or two on the side for each quarter.  About 12-15 punctures depending on the size of the pepper 

unoriginalusername

Finally a second batch ready for some smoke 

lousubcap

Here's a link to a smoke-down last weekend with habaneros.  The dried powder turned out great.
The annual high heat low-temp habanero smoke down  
Enjoy the adventure and gloves are your friend.  

gdenby

unoriginalusername said:

These ones are done and heading to the pantry ...

Those look beautiful! Thx for the tips for smoking and drying.