If you read this post, How To Smoke Peppers The Easy Way, you will learn how to smoke all kinds of peppers. I smoked some this weekend in fact. I now want to show you how to dehydrate them after smoking.
Dehydrating offers the longest possible amount of time you can store the item. This is what my dehydrators look like.
Dehydrators
The one of the left was my mom’s and has been working well since 1993. The one on the right, I picked up at a yard sale last summer. Although they look identical, the one of the left has a much heavier gauge of plastic than the one on the right.
After smoking your small sweet peppers for the desired amount of time (I smoke mine for 4 hours) then you will place the peppers on a dehydrator tray like this, making sure none of the peppers are touching.
After 12 hours, this is what the peppers will look like. I did not rotate trays because the bagful I purchased only took up the space of one tray.
After 36 hours of drying time in the dehydrator, these are the finished they should be leathery with no moisture but not brittle. This is a close-up of the jarred peppers.
I will keep mine in the door of the fridge, using them for the next year. When I want to use some, I will rehydrate with a bowl warm chicken or beef broth, warm water, or maybe even some red wine depending on what I am cooking. I generally let them hydrate for 20 minutes to 1 hour’s time.
These particular peppers have a very sweet lightly smoky taste. We all just love it! I must warn you though; there will be a strong smoke smell throughout the house for several hours after you put them into the dehydrator. Enjoy!
