PICK A PECK OF PEPPER POWDER

One of the new things I grew in the garden this year was Time Bomb Peppers from Hoss Tools.

They are said to have a Scoville rating between green peppers and jalapeno peppers. When I first started picking them, I tested one to check that assessment. Both Oscar and I chewed a bit of the flesh and were disappointed that they seemed to not be much more than a green pepper.

It did not take me long to change my mind about that! That first batch got cleaned out and put in the freezer. That is when I learned there was heat somewhere in them. If you’ve ever removed the seeds from hot peppers, you’ll know the chaos that causes for your breathing. Well, that’s what I experienced when I de-seeded just a handful of these peppers. Then, one day I made a chicken and potato soup for a couple of people with covid. I sliced ONE Time Bomb ultra-thin for the whole pot of soup. Now remember, these things are only an inch or so in diameter. I was expecting just a little bit of flavor from them, but a taste of the broth heated not just my tongue but my whole body – for the rest of the day! (They loved the soup, by the way.)

As the season progressed, I just kept collecting piles and piles of peppers in a bowl in the fridge. Then in another bowl. And another. I collected not just the Time Bombs but also some pepperoncini (which I had high hopes of pickling but gave up on that idea early on), and whatever else made it in there.

Finally, I could ignore them no longer. They were overrunning my fridge, and I was out of bowls. It was time to dehydrate them.

The day I decided to process them in the dehydrator, I suited up in what I thought would be adequate armor – gloves, mask and an exhaust fan. My goodness, even with protection, the fumes turned a one-hour project into a three-hour project. I kept having to take breaks to go outside for a few minutes of fresh air and needed several water breaks to ease the sting in my throat. Remind me to get a respirator kit for future pepper processing!

Finally, I got my pepper stash prepped and in the dehydrator.

We ran a power cord from the outside outlet in back of the house to the front porch. This way the dehydrator would be protected from the weather, and we would be protected from the pepper fumes! At one point, after turning the dehydrator on, Oscar walked in from outside and said, “Do Not open that door!”

Once, dehydrated, I put the peppers in a quart jar that I vacuum sealed. They stayed there while I decided what I wanted to do with them.

It’s been almost two months, but I got back to them today. I decided I have plenty of dehydrated and frozen pepper pieces, so this batch was destined to become pepper powder.

I emptied the jar into the blender:

Pulsed them into a powder:

And vacuum packed the final product into a 1/2-pint jar:

Here are a couple of footnotes I want to share:

I am loving this portable, handheld vacuum sealer (the black gadget on the right) that I mentioned back when I processed plums. My Food Saver has been my go-to vacuum sealer for decades. This thing, though, works perfectly for sealing jars and it’s not a hassle to get it out like the bulkier Food Saver.

A You Tuber mentioned we could re-use canning lids to vacuum seal jars of dry goods and dehydrated products. This was the first time I tested that statement, and you know what? It works! This is a boon. Knowing how pricey they can be and, in some years, scarce, it kind of hurts my sensibilities to toss them in the garbage when I open a jar of food. I don’t have to do that anymore. I make sure I remove my lids with this mason jar opener, which does not damage the rubber gasket and does not bend the lid. It also means I can open a vacuum sealed jar, use a little of its contents, and easily seal it back to an airtight state.