PAPA-PEPPER'S PEPPER POWDER

Preservation is key!

---

Growing crops and harvesting them is only part of the process. Preserving them is also important, or all of your hard work will go to waste. Here is one simple method that I use to preserve my super-hot peppers for future use.

MY SIMPLE PROCESS

Recently, I found a bunch of these little jars at a dollar store. I thought that they would be perfect to use as storage containers for my hot pepper powder.

Since last fall I've had a pile of dried hot peppers sitting around waiting to be processed. They can be stored like this, but for actual use it can be more practical to grind them. At the end of the harvest last year, I took a bunch of ghost peppers, chocolate ghost peppers, Carolina reapers, and a few others and cut them in half. Once they are halved they dry rather easily and can then be stored for future use. They even retain their full heat for up to a year!

I decided to do them quickly this time, just dropping handfuls of the peppers into a blender and and dry chopping them. As always, when dealing with hot peppers you've got to be careful or you'll get burned!

This stage here is a dangerous stage. Each time the lid is opened after chopping them a small cloud comes out. This cloud is primarily a dust or finely ground sampling of the pepper pieces containing capsicum, which is what makes hot peppers so hot. When airborne, it can be inhaled which leads to a lot of coughing, runny nose, and irritation. This is why my family leaves the house when I get into projects like this.

A small funnel helps make sure all of the powder goes where I want it to go. I use one with a slender hole, because any larger pieces will get caught in it and then I can blend them further if needed.

Pouring is another time to be careful. Any residue left on the counter could potentially injure others, so you've got to be careful, especially with children around. Thankfully, I've gotten some experience by now and it went well.

Once the dried peppers are blended into powder and flakes they are ready for use. By storing them in these little jars it keeps them handy and safe. This is not exactly a seasoning for everyone, but I really like it and know some others who do as well. Recently, I even gifted some to @awesomehomestead, who rather enjoyed it!

As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:

proof-of-pepper-powder

Until next time…

GIF provided by @anzirpasai

---

FOR MORE PAPA-PEPPER CONTENT, CHECK ME OUT ON SOLA

---

TO TRANSLATE POSTS VIA OPERATION TRANSLATION CLICK HERE