I have some dried hot peppers which are over a year old. These are hybrids, part chile de arbol, but less hot so that I can use them for mixed company. A friend grew them for me specifically because of their medium hotness.
After around 16 months in doubled ziplock bags, I used some of these in a couple recipes last week, including a Mexican squash casserole. The dried peppers were partly rehydrated prior to use.
While I remember being able to use 2 or even 3 of these peppers in a recipe when I first got them, even one of them made the dish so hot I had to quickly make something else for two of our guests. This happened three times over the last couple months, so it's not just which individual pepper I pulled out. It seems like these peppers got hotter with ageing, something I'd think was impossible … shouldn't they lose capsaicin as they age?
So, my question is:
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Is it possible for a dried chili pepper to become hotter with ageing, instead of losing flavor?
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If so, what causes this?
I'm guessing that it's just my faulty memory, but I'd love some verification. Thanks!
Best Answer
I'm going to say yes. In 2013 we grew 6 varieties of mild to hot peppers. On the mild side was Poblano, and on the other was an extremely hot habanero variety. As these peppers matured we would pick them, slice them, dry them on a dehydrator then deep freeze them.
At the end of the season we had around 2.5 gallons of dried, frozen peppers. They were not stored by type but all mixed together. That Christmas we ground down the 6 pepper mix into a powder, filled several spice jars and sent them to family along with our raw honey and homemade soap. This mix packed a serious punch. I use it on just about everything and we got nothing but rave reviews from those we sent it to, all folks that love spicy food.
Now in 2015, I finally used the last of the spice so I dove into the coffin freezer, pushed aside the 2014 and 2015 harvests and pulled out the last gallon of 2013 peppers. Since they had been frozen for two years I put them on a dehydrator for 24 hours then ground them up just like I had before. I'm telling you these peppers are so much hotter than the first batch it's not even funny. This coming from a guy that can drink Siracha. If you can so much as see the small red dots on your food then you put too much on. The difference between the same peppers ground up in 2013 vs 2015 is incredible.