Making homemade ground cayenne

[Charles Howse]

When I was a boy, I was home alone one day, and noticed that Mom had a string of red peppers hanging in the kitchen window to dry.

Now, I knew they were called "peppers", but had never tasted one.

I pulled one off the string, and broke it apart to see what was inside.

Once my curiosity was satisfied, I went about my business. Later, as little boys do, I needed to pick my nose.

Have you ever laid on the kitchen counter, with your head under the faucet, trying to get the water to run up your nose? I have.

If I were to come by a string of dried cayenne peppers today, Would anything other than some sort of spice mill be necessary to make my own ground cayenne?

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever checked your oil with your ponytail.

 

[K Kruger]

Nope, an electric coffee mill or other type of spice grinder is sll you need. make sure they are completely dry first--toast them if necessary. I like to toast anyway to bring out the flavor a bit more. Seeds will make the grind less hot, usually.

 

[Charles Howse]

Kev,
Let me be sure I understand you...
When cooking with raw hot peppers, leaving out the seeds and membrane makes things less hot, but you are saying for maximum pop when grinding, leave them out?

--
Charles

You might be a redneck Jedi if...
Your Jedi robe is a camouflage color.

 

[K Kruger]

Most of the heat in a hot pepper in contained in the pepper's placenta--the ribs--the line the interior of the flesh. Seeds do not contain capsaicin themselves but their proximity to the placenta causes them to pick up some of the capsaicin which is why you leave them in for more heat when using fresh chilies.

With dried chilies it's another story which I should have clarified in my response. Heat of the seeds depends on the chile and depends on how they were dried. Pepper variety and ripeness when picked are factors as well.The best thing to do is taste some seeds and see if they have much heat. Seeds from chilies that are dried slowly are more likely to keep whatever heat they picked up.

But also taste the flesh alone (taste it first) to see if its heat is adequate. What seeds do not have is flavor. Lots of seeds in the grind will weaken the flavor of the chile so taste both flesh and seeds alone and then make a decision. You might decide to include all the seeds, just some, or none at all. When grinding mild chilies always remove the seeds first.

Chilies should be bone dry for grinding. You can do this in an oven (300 for 10 min or so) or, my preference because it heightens flavor, you can toast them in a dry pan. To do this, split the chilies and discard the stems. Discard the seeds or, if including, reserve in a small bowl. Heat a large saute pan over med-high heat for several minutes then add the chile pieces in one layer and toast, turning frequently, til just starting to be fragrant. Pour in the reserved seeds and continue toasting 30-45 secs more, stirring constantly; dump onto the counter or a sheet pan to cool.

 

[R.D. Harles]

I just got done drying a bunch of ceyenne peppers on the WSM. Cut the stem off, cut them in half, dry them out completely, and grind everything in a coffee/spice grinder. Turned out great!

 

[K Kruger]

Good idea and a good use for the cooker after you've pulled the meat from a cook while the fuel is still burning.