Chilli processing · Rwanda
Red colour is the whole grade.
Red colour is what chilli is graded and priced on, and conventional sun drying degrades it badly — while slow, humid drying risks aflatoxin.
Processing challenges
- Red colour is what chilli is graded and priced on; sun drying degrades it.
- Capsaicin — the heat and value — is lost through excessive temperature.
- Aflatoxin contamination from slow, humid drying is a market-access issue.
- Harvest peaks strain capacity.
System configuration
- Temperature profiling across drying phases.
- Light and temperature management specifically protecting red pigment — UV exposure is the primary cause of colour loss.
- Uniform airflow for consistent results.
- Enclosed food-safe construction preventing contamination.
- Variety-specific stored parameter sets.
Product applications
- Whole dried chilli — intact pepper drying, stem-on or stem-off, colour vibrancy, shape integrity.
- Flakes & powder — pre-grinding optimisation, colour intensity, pungency preservation, particle consistency.
- African bird’s eye — ultra-hot variety handling, small-fruit uniformity, documentation supporting organic certification.
Outcomes
- Markedly higher ASTA colour values than conventional drying.
- Scoville heat units retained.
- Microbial and aflatoxin contamination prevented.
- Uniform quality meeting premium international specification.
Explore further
- Fruit & vegetable drying — parameters and quality metrics for this product class.
- Hot-air generators — the indirect-heat core that keeps combustion off your product.
- Industrial tunnel dryers — the 1,500 kg-per-batch chambers this configuration uses.
- Worked use cases — fully engineered example configurations across West Africa.
Processing chilli in Rwanda?
We’ll match temperature, airflow and hygiene design to your product and validate parameters by trial before quoting outcomes.
Request a quote