Cold smoking some spices today *Q-VIEW*

hewgag

Fire Starter

Original poster

Sep 29, 2010

66

10

Chino Valley, AZ

• Dec 13, 2012

• #1

Today... well... actually last night I started smoking some cheese, which led me to smoke up some spices and chilies. I did not want all that good smoke go to waste on just a small batch of cheese so I decided to fill the cabinet with paprika, chile powder, kosher salt, and some dried Sandia red chilies from my trip last week to visit relatives in Las Cruces New Mexico. 

I filled my A-MAZE-N smoker with hickory dust and lit both ends. Temps were in the low 40's last night and dropped overnight to around 36F. Right now it's around 60F and the spices are all that left in the cabinet. I'll smoke this batch for about 12 hours total.

Enjoy!!

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driedstick

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Nov 3, 2011

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N. Central Idaho

• Dec 17, 2012

• #2

THose look great now the wait on the chees for 2 weeks or so

 

venture

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Aug 1, 2008

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Central California

• Dec 17, 2012

• #3

Satisfactory!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

therealfrosty

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Dec 27, 2012

43

11

North Idaho

• Jan 2, 2013

• #4

Nice! how do you like the spices smoked?

 

tjohnson

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Savage, MN

• Jan 3, 2013

• #5

Nice misty smoke in the pics

Seal those spices up good, or they'll lose their smokey flavor quick

TJ

 

humdinger

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Jun 27, 2012

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Shelby Township MI

• Jan 3, 2013

• #6

Looks good. I'm going to tap into some smoked cheese this weekend...but now this made me even more hungry!

 

hewgag

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Original poster

Thread starter

Sep 29, 2010

66

10

Chino Valley, AZ

• Jan 4, 2013

• #7

TJohnson said:

Nice misty smoke in the pics

Seal those spices up good, or they'll lose their smokey flavor quick

TJ

Click to expand...

....all thanks to the genius that created this A-MAZE-N Smoker... 

Yes Todd, I most definitely have my spices in air-tight containers. And I rotate them around to mix 'em up weekly to disperse the smoky goodness inside as well!! 

Ohh Todd.... side note here.. I recently got a bag of pecan dust from ya (among some other dusts) and thought I'd try adding some ground up pecan shells from my uncles trees to the pecan dust. Worked pretty good..... may wanna look into a "pecan/pecan shell" blend??? Just thought I'd throw the idea your way if you haven't already come across it.... Had minor issues with keeping it lit but it was windy, cold and damp that day...

 

hewgag

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Original poster

Thread starter

Sep 29, 2010

66

10

Chino Valley, AZ

• Jan 10, 2013

• #8

TheRealFrosty said:

Nice! how do you like the spices smoked?

Click to expand...

I love it!! The paprika comes out perfect! The chili powder I have not yet used in anything by itself but I smells as good as the paprika. The salt smells amazing!! But lacks the smoky punch the spices get which is fine because it makes a great accent garnish salt with a light smoke hint. The red chilies were light-years beyond my wildest expectations. I made a pot of New Mexico style red chile w/ pork and it was insanely good. I will most definitely be smoking all my chilies from now on!

 

mdboatbum

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• Jan 11, 2013

• #9

Looks great!! Question, the chiles were dried to start out with right? I'm thinking that pre-smoking a batch of chiles, cumin seeds and Paprika would make a pretty insanely good batch of chili powder.

 

hewgag

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Original poster

Thread starter

Sep 29, 2010

66

10

Chino Valley, AZ

• Jan 11, 2013

• #10

Mdboatbum, I reconstituted the chilies in warm water for about an hour prior to smoking them. They went overnight in the smoker on a chilly 40F night. Since I use cumin in my red chile, I think smoking it would make the chile come out a little too smoky. The chilies surprisingly took on a lot of smoke. But I WILL try smoking a batch of cumin and give it a try...... experiment, experiment,experiment!!

 

tamarockstar88

Smoke Blower

Mar 7, 2012

79

10

leominster, MA

• Mar 10, 2013

• #11

I've smoked spices hot smoking but now that I have an amnps It's going to be cold smoking from now on. However I did hot smoke onions and garlic until they were roasted, dehydrated them and turned them into a powder. A second round of smoking once it's powdered gives it a stronger smoke flavor. I use that along with salts and paprika I smoked for rubs and to add a little smoke to anything I cook. The garlic and onion powder is the best I've ever had, it's nothing like store bought.

Great info on smoking chili peppers, I'll be trying that as well. I have a bag of dried chilis and also some Ghost chilis as well Thanks!