John,

That is awesome. Looks very nice. I made a spice rack and finally got around to grinding and jarring my peppers as well this past weekend. Not has much as you have :) but enough for me to get to this time next year LOL. Most of these dried peppers came from seeds I received from you and grew this past year.....THANK YOU Again

Bill

Bill

That is very nice looking. I keep some in spice jars that i use often, i put the bulk of it in jelly jars just so i could use my vaccum sealer on it. alot of people say grind it as you need it, but i wanted to get it done and over with. I figured vaccum sealing them should keep it fresher... let me know what seeds you need this year. i'm ready to start sending them out

Those are some nice batchs of powder there John. I bet it took a while to grind all that down. Vaccum sealing them up too was very smart.

Bill... love the spice rack.

They look awesome! I apologize if this is considered hijacking your thread, but I have been meaning to initiate a post for making powder.

I probably have 12 quart jars filled with various dehydrated peppers with the intent to make powder.

Stupid questions commence now...

Is it just as simple as grinding the pods alone into a fine powder??

I thought I read some people roast them with other spices and then let them dry out again before grinding them??

What was your process??

Any input would be genuinely appreciated. Thanks.

Brian

Very impressive, John. Bill, I like your spice rack as well as what you packed it it.

I don't have a whole lot of pods. So I keep them whole. In the glass jars they look very colorful. Whenever I saute' something i take one or two (med. heat pods) and combine with garlic, shallot, onion, a little bit fresh ginger with some olive oil.

Nothing can warm you in these cold days like hot spicy food.

Seysonn

I grind them with a Ninga and run them through a flower sifter to remove seed. 42 qts. this year. Will be selling at a few local events. Lots of fun and I give away free seed to inspire others to grow peppers plus it helps supplement next years expenses.

Looking good gentlemen. I did the dehydrate/grind program this yr. Turned out good for beginner. You guys are at expert level.

Johnny

Brian,

No problem, i don't care where the thread goes, its all good. You're asking the wrong person about smoking them. I haven't found the time to get into that yet, maybe next year. I would assume they are just smoked before you dry them. Smokemasters who you need to talk too, He smokes everything.

Dave,

i use the Ninja also, it works great..How fine is a flour sifter? I haven't seen one of those in ages.. If you ever wanna play with sizing, i have screens from 8 to 40 mesh

Once you dedicate your Ninja to that, I assume it is forever a pepper grinder after all that powder. Lol I can't imagine trying to blend up a carrot and apple smoothie even after washing it.

Wow ...... This year I had only enough to get about 4 oz. to 6 oz. of dried super hots due to rain and cool weather. I am envious of those in warmer climates who have such a long season. Hats off too all of you for you nice pepper jars collections. They are very impressive.

Thanks everyone....

This small rack is the wife's day-to-day seasonings. Hottest thing in it is Cayenne lol. I could not leave her out or she would not have let me do my spice rack.

I have smoked Jalapenos this year for Chipotle. It turned out great. I may try smoking super hots next year.

What I do is.... (This may be right or wrong, but is how I do it and it works for me). Throughout the years harvesting (This year I had 3 decent harvests on most plants) I dry in the dehydrator each harvest and put in Mason jars. Ones I am done for the year I take all of one variety and place back in the dehydrator for another couple hours (It seems some moisture does sneak in over time) then I grind in my coffee grinder until I get the consistency I want. The first picture I posted most of those super hot's I ground to corse flakes instead of straight powder. I figured I can use flakes on most anything but if I needed fine powder then I can always re-grind.

Scorpion_John (John) I will send you an e-mail always looking for more seeds. I plan on starting my seeds in 2 weeks. It is on to hot sauces now as I have 23 jars of different peppers soaking in Vinegar in the Frig and the wife wants them OUT LOL.

Bill

Oz,

yea, just for peppers. Wife bought a new one last year after i used hers

Very nice John. And Bill.

As far as freshness, yes, as with any other spice, leaving pods whole is the way to go. But a PITA. I do both -- tons of powder and tons of whole pods. Keeping them in cool dark places also helps.

Vacuum packing is a great idea. I bet if you did whole pods in one of the space saver bags that they'd be good for a couple years.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 22:53

Kevin,

Thats a good idea, I never even thought about using the bags.
Take a look at my list and see if i can send you anything? I got the weekend off and would like to package up some seed. Just email me a list of what you want. John

Do you have any problems with powders getting into the Foodsaver when you vacuum seal bags or jars? I haven't made any powder since I don't have a dedicated grinder.

John - I emailed you, got the seeds, thanks so much. Sent you a link for recipe to make chocolate cookies with that powder but I'll post it here for everyone

Here is a link that might be useful: Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies

That's a nice collection of powders! I only have half that many types growing. I use a coffee grinder to powder. I think the smaller the particle size, the easier it mixes in food. I first started out hand grinding the dried peppers into flakes. I found that I got much less taste for the amount of pepper material used. To dry the peppers, I usually use a Nesco dehydrator. I've had it for probably 7 years now and a pile of peppers have gone through that thing. I bought extra trays, so I can do 7 trays at a time right now. For smoked peppers, I'll usually smoke them on the smoker grill for a good 4 hours at very low temperature and then finish them up as needed in the Nesco. I like using pecan wood, but apple, or peach wood makes interesting tastes, depending on the pepper itself. Like I think apple wood is great with yellow Fataliis.
I don't use main jars to store my powder, but I do use jars to store my pepper seeds. I found this great little device that can turn 100 mason jars into vacuum sealed jars.

http://www.pump-n-seal.com

I found that the yellow peppers seem to break down faster, color wise, than red peppers. So, it is true that keeping the dried peppers stored, like in mason jars, and then grinding as needed is a good way to keep the powder you use fresher tasting and stronger tasting. A few weeks ago I gave someone a sample of 9 different fresh peppers I am growing that I felt would give a full range of heat levels and also all the different colors, so she had yellow Fataliis on the low side of heat, going up to 7 pod Primos, which mine are hotter than reapers. There were reds, yellows, chocolates, and peaches. I wanted her to taste test each one fresh to experience all the tastes and burns, but she didn't do that. What she ended up doing with them is such a cool idea, I had to share. She found at Walmart, what I am picturing as a clear acrylic pepper grinder you would have for table use. She cut the various types of peppers into thin strips and then dried them in the dehydrator. She put a mixture of the dried pepper strips into the pepper shaker/grinder so it is very colorful to look at. Also, she says the mixture tastes great, and technically, each time you turn the top to grind some, the mixture may change slightly depending on the location of the different colored strips. I'm going to have to try this one sometime soon. Sound like a killer Christmas present!

I just dehydrate then throw them in a mason jar and use my blender (screws right on a mason jar). I have more powder than I could ever use...lol.
Jerry

@ PlantsMan56, thanks for the tip! I put the Pump-N-Sealî on my X-Mas wish list.

This is my powder setup at a local vineyard this weekend. Helps pay for next year. With over 400 plants experiences can get high and I can no way use even a fraction of the resulting harvest.
Powder sells over $300 yesterday and Im doing it again today.
I live on an Island and I tell people nothing here has ever crossed the bridge leaving town.

Dave,
I think that powder sale is a better adventure than making/selling sauce. It requires no major equipment, licensing. Easy storage and shipping/handling, long shelf life, practically no spoilage ...etc.
You major efforts goes into growing, harvesting, dehydrating and grinding.
Go for it !

Seysonn

Hey PepperDave, it could be said by some that super hot peppers are vile, but I think the word you are looking for on your mini containers are vials... unless pun intended of course. lol

PS Lots of good info/ideas in this thread. Good job guys.