This has been mentioned a few times in different threads and a couple people have gotten to experience the results of a many-year project. This one goes out to my friends Steve (
Steve H
) and Joe (
xray
). As stated, this has been mentioned a few times but I was encouraged to post it in it's own thread to share the concept with other folks here.
So quite a few years ago we planted a bunch of hot pepper plants in the garden. Turned out we got a much bigger yield than anticipated. As the growing season was winding down I couldn't think of what to do with all the peppers we were getting. It was WAY more than I'd ever use just for cooking. Decided to dry them all, grind them up, and mix it all together in a bottle. Turned out to be a great idea!! Well, as the years went by I kept doing this. Every year we'd plant different pepper plants and whatever the garden yielded was added to the bottle. It changed every year, which added a bit of intrigue to the project. You just never knew what you were going to wind up with. Unfortunately this year we got absolutely nothing from the garden except a few arbol peppers. Spring and into Summer we saw more rain that we'd ever seen in this area. Then it turned blazing hot and not a drop of rain for months. The plants grew but no matter how much we watered (or didn't water) them, no peppers grew. Oh well...time to improvise. I managed to procure a huge bag of fresh cayenne peppers from our friends up the lake last Saturday when we went up to hang out on their dock. They managed to get cayenne peppers but that's all. Last week I went to a local farmer's market and grabbed a few other peppers so I could at least get something into the jar. It was getting dangerously low.
The bag of fresh cayenne peppers
Here is the bottle with what's left after 14 years of adding stuff
Got the peppers laid out.Jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, cayenne, and the arbol peppers which were previously dried
Now it's time to cut off the stems and get them onto the dehydrator. Jalapenos
Habaneros
Serranos
Cayennes
In the past when I'd have a lot of peppers I'd grind them in the blender. Didn't have so many this time so I just used the little spice grinder and did several small batches. Here it is all dried and run through the spice grinder.
It didn't do a very good job grinding up the peppers so I got out the grain strainer I use for making beer and ran the spice mix through it to get out all the bigger chunks. Here's what sifted through
I used my fingers to grind the remaining larger chunks through the strainer. After about 20 minutes it was getting old. My fingers were rubbed raw and turning bright orange but I salvaged almost all of the peppers.
Here is the plate of new stuff beside the jar. You can see the color difference I mentioned earlier
Here is the new stuff added to the bottle but not mixed in yet. Again, this is to show how much it can vary from year to year
All mixed up and ready for use. I didn't net much out of my efforts but with this stuff, a little bit goes a long way.
A couple of recommendations if you decide to try this:
-If possible set the dehydrator on the stove top and turn on the hood vent. It gets quite aromatic
-Wear gloves when prepping the peppers.
-Wear gloves and a respirator when grinding the peppers
-Do not rub your eyes or touch your private parts with anything that's been in contact with the peppers. You'll be hating life
-If you're not a registered, certified pepper head, I'd recommend staying away from this one or at least use in strict moderation until you get used to it
This has been a lot of fun for a long time. The blend of peppers has a very deep, rich, aromatic flavor as well as a nice spice glow: ie: it'll set you on fire if you're not careful!! I love spicy stiff but it has to have flavor also. Being hot just for the sake of being hot is pointless, and this definitely packs the flavor!! Now, last year I did manage to get some ghost peppers to grow but they are in a separate container and not added to this. That just gets insanely hot for most people. To give an idea of what this is capable of, last year I substituted this for the cayenne in my rib rub which I make. The same amount of this was used as is called for with the cayenne but it was WAY too much. I tossed 3 racks of ribs I'd done for friends because they couldn't eat them. Ok, to tell the truth, I tossed what I didn't eat. Personally I was fine with it but not so much for the other folks.
Thanks for dropping in,
Robert
Steve H
) and Joe (
xray
). As stated, this has been mentioned a few times but I was encouraged to post it in it's own thread to share the concept with other folks here.So quite a few years ago we planted a bunch of hot pepper plants in the garden. Turned out we got a much bigger yield than anticipated. As the growing season was winding down I couldn't think of what to do with all the peppers we were getting. It was WAY more than I'd ever use just for cooking. Decided to dry them all, grind them up, and mix it all together in a bottle. Turned out to be a great idea!! Well, as the years went by I kept doing this. Every year we'd plant different pepper plants and whatever the garden yielded was added to the bottle. It changed every year, which added a bit of intrigue to the project. You just never knew what you were going to wind up with. Unfortunately this year we got absolutely nothing from the garden except a few arbol peppers. Spring and into Summer we saw more rain that we'd ever seen in this area. Then it turned blazing hot and not a drop of rain for months. The plants grew but no matter how much we watered (or didn't water) them, no peppers grew. Oh well...time to improvise. I managed to procure a huge bag of fresh cayenne peppers from our friends up the lake last Saturday when we went up to hang out on their dock. They managed to get cayenne peppers but that's all. Last week I went to a local farmer's market and grabbed a few other peppers so I could at least get something into the jar. It was getting dangerously low.
The bag of fresh cayenne peppers
Here is the bottle with what's left after 14 years of adding stuff
Got the peppers laid out.Jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, cayenne, and the arbol peppers which were previously dried
Now it's time to cut off the stems and get them onto the dehydrator. Jalapenos
Habaneros
Serranos
Cayennes
In the past when I'd have a lot of peppers I'd grind them in the blender. Didn't have so many this time so I just used the little spice grinder and did several small batches. Here it is all dried and run through the spice grinder.
It didn't do a very good job grinding up the peppers so I got out the grain strainer I use for making beer and ran the spice mix through it to get out all the bigger chunks. Here's what sifted through
I used my fingers to grind the remaining larger chunks through the strainer. After about 20 minutes it was getting old. My fingers were rubbed raw and turning bright orange but I salvaged almost all of the peppers.
Here is the plate of new stuff beside the jar. You can see the color difference I mentioned earlier
Here is the new stuff added to the bottle but not mixed in yet. Again, this is to show how much it can vary from year to year
All mixed up and ready for use. I didn't net much out of my efforts but with this stuff, a little bit goes a long way.
A couple of recommendations if you decide to try this:
-If possible set the dehydrator on the stove top and turn on the hood vent. It gets quite aromatic
-Wear gloves when prepping the peppers.
-Wear gloves and a respirator when grinding the peppers
-Do not rub your eyes or touch your private parts with anything that's been in contact with the peppers. You'll be hating life
-If you're not a registered, certified pepper head, I'd recommend staying away from this one or at least use in strict moderation until you get used to it
This has been a lot of fun for a long time. The blend of peppers has a very deep, rich, aromatic flavor as well as a nice spice glow: ie: it'll set you on fire if you're not careful!! I love spicy stiff but it has to have flavor also. Being hot just for the sake of being hot is pointless, and this definitely packs the flavor!! Now, last year I did manage to get some ghost peppers to grow but they are in a separate container and not added to this. That just gets insanely hot for most people. To give an idea of what this is capable of, last year I substituted this for the cayenne in my rib rub which I make. The same amount of this was used as is called for with the cayenne but it was WAY too much. I tossed 3 racks of ribs I'd done for friends because they couldn't eat them. Ok, to tell the truth, I tossed what I didn't eat. Personally I was fine with it but not so much for the other folks.
Thanks for dropping in,
Robert
