Nice story and mine was like that also. The first time i tried to jar peppers by boiling them for non cold storage. The 2 quart canning jar exploded filling the house with peppers and vinegar. Woke my wife from a sound sleep and made for a long week with her not being a pepper person. The windows were open and house smelled for a few days but I was back at again. I just go from cutting block to the jar to the fridge.

You guys will get used to it. Last year grinding powder was bad. Last night i ground a full quart of superhot powder with no problems. Hang in there. Lex, you don't have to process peppers because of all the vinegar. Just dump the boiling liquid over them and put the lids on and they will seal as they cool. If you boil them they get soft. The guys at work bring jars of milder ones in for lunch. Recently, i seen one jar marked 2002 and was a little leary of it, but they still tasted fine.

John are you referring to boiling the vinegar and pouring over the peppers?

Yes Joe, i though you were water bathing them. I shouldn't say this, but i can't remember the last time i had a jar break pouring the hot vinegar over them. Now the water bath and pressure canner are a different story. I have had some break there before. A nieghbor gave me a recipe last year for peppers packed in vinegar and ketchup that is great. If you want it email me. In regards to your email about the powder, i store my dried peppers in wide mouth quart jars to keep out the moisture. It takes me 8 quarts of dried peppers to make a quart of powder but i add a 3 oz. thing of onion and garlic powder to the mix and use it in a shaker on almost everything i eat. For straight powder it would probally take 10 quarts

I thought I'd revive this thread to share what happened to me the other night...

Was cooking steaks for dinner for myself and the family. I wanted to add a little flavor so I added a little, just a little mind you, pepper powder on each side of the steak before dropping it into the frying pan. The resulting fumes nearly drove my family out of the house. We were coughing for some time, and had a hard time enjoying the steaks. Note to self: next time I make that recipe, be sure to use the barbeque outside.

Well, as I said, we all come to expect this when cutting up lots of superhots or even habs, but the powerful effect from cooking with a small amount of power really surprised me.

And the worst part is, my steak was hardly hot (pungent) at all!

-Alex

Ouch! That's a tough lesson to learn! Sometimes things get too hot (pan / oil / etc), and that happens. :-) Guess that's one good thing about a more closed off / separate kitchen rather than an 'open concept' setup. When that happens, you only nuke one room, not the whole house! haha!

The techs at the dialysis center gave me several throw away guards that they use. It is a visor that fits on your forehead and then plastic comes down and covers your nose and mouth. It should work good as it covers the eyes also. I learned my lesson from cutiing scotch bonnets to make pepper jelly. I now wear gloves and I have never had a jar break from pouring hot liquid into it. Secret is to make sure the jars are hot by rinsing them in hot water and then stuffing pickles, peppers etc before pouting vinegar solution over them. Have your lids in boiling water, clean the rim of the jar, place hot lid on top and then the ring and close tight. You will her the lids popping as they cool and that indicates that they are sealed. We have never water bathed our pickles, jam, etc.

Alex... if you think that was bad, i made a bunch of the fire base in Judo's thread. It didn't bother me but my family locked themselves in their bedrooms. Try pureeing them with vinegar and boiling them lol

Wonder what the cats are going to do when I make hot stuff. I already know they eat some of the food I make with hot spices.

Yeah, it's interesting that this sort of reaction causes coughing with tickling in the lungs, but none of the pain sensation typically associated with eating hot peppers.

Tim, I do indeed have an open-style setup in my house. Made me chuckle that you could deduce that from my story.

Alex