How to Dry Chili Peppers?

From fresh chili peppers to dried ones, the process invariably involves dehydration, but there are multiple methods for dehydration, including natural sun drying or using drying machine. Generally, large-scale dehydration is often done using drying machine.

How to dry chili peppers?

1.Thickness of Pile

Maintain a consistent thickness when piling chili peppers. Typically, a thickness of 20 to 30 centimeters is suitable. If the pile is too thin, it has good air permeability and low wind resistance, which is conducive to heat exchange. However, the contact time between hot air and chili peppers is relatively short, resulting in low heat utilization. If the pile is too thick, the resistance increases, and the hot air cannot penetrate the material layer, leading to poor drying results.

2.Choosing the Temperature

Chili peppers have a high initial moisture content, usually around 75% to 85%. Set the temperature of the chili pepper dryer to 40°C to 60°C for hot air drying. Initially, the relative humidity of the air is below 70%. After 5 hours, the relative humidity of the air drops below 52%, and after 12 hours, the relative humidity is below 40%. Therefore, the drying efficiency of chili peppers is mainly determined by the temperature of the chili peppers themselves, rather than the moisture-carrying and moisture-removing capacity of the hot air. Considering both the preservation of the nutritional content of dried chili peppers and the increase in productivity, a suitable temperature for drying chili peppers is around 60°C to 70°C.

3.Segmented Drying

Segmented drying is a superior method for drying chili peppers. It involves drying chili peppers with an initial moisture content of 75% to 85% until the moisture content reaches around 50%, then allowing them to rest, followed by a second drying phase. For example, drying 1000 kilograms of chili peppers at a hot air temperature of 40°C to 60°C would take about 63 hours. By allowing the peppers to rest and sweat before the second drying phase, the time can be shortened to around 40 hours, and there is a significant reduction in discoloration like the yellow shells. After completing the second drying phase, ultra-high quality dried chili peppers can be obtained.