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Jun 15, 2014 10:13 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Turtle
Willamette Valley (Zone 8a)
Organic Gardener
Can someone tell me how to turn my peppers into chili powder for cooking with?

Turtle Confused
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Jun 15, 2014 11:06 PM CST
Name: Glen Ingram
Macleay Is, Qld, Australia (Zone 12a)
(Lee Reinke X Rose F Kennedy) X Unk
Amaryllis Hybridizer Canning and food preservation Lilies Native Plants and Wildflowers Orchids
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Pollen collector Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Plays in the sandbox Sedums Seed Starter
Welcome Turtle Welcome! Welcome!
The problem is that when you are young your life it is ruined by your parents. When you are older it is ruined by your children.
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Jun 16, 2014 7:16 AM CST
Name: Tom
Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Butterflies Vegetable Grower Keeper of Poultry Irises Keeps Horses Dog Lover
Daylilies Cat Lover Region: Wisconsin Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Hi Turtle, and welcome. I have made it from a mixture of dried peppers. You will want to include some cayenne, some Pablano/Ancho, some Anaheim and even some jalapeno that have been ripend and dried. The anaheim are mostly mild, and the others have more heat. you can mix the blend as hot or mild as you want it. I just pulverize it in the blender, but they have to be really dry. Good luck!
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
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Jun 16, 2014 8:57 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Turtle
Willamette Valley (Zone 8a)
Organic Gardener
Thanks guys! Smiling

Gleni, I was born in Darwin, and one of my brothers in Mt. Isa!
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Jun 16, 2014 5:07 PM CST
Name: Glen Ingram
Macleay Is, Qld, Australia (Zone 12a)
(Lee Reinke X Rose F Kennedy) X Unk
Amaryllis Hybridizer Canning and food preservation Lilies Native Plants and Wildflowers Orchids
Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Pollen collector Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Plays in the sandbox Sedums Seed Starter
Hello Turtle. I am a northerner too! I am from Innisfail.
The problem is that when you are young your life it is ruined by your parents. When you are older it is ruined by your children.
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Jun 16, 2014 6:10 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Hi Turtle!

Many or most recipes that I see include some cumin (and I've read elsewhere that cumin is an ingredient in most chili powders). I see 1/12th up to 1/8th of the powder being cumin. However, I don't add cumin as an ingredient to my "chili powder mixes". However, I do doctor up some store-bought mixes, so I get some cumin that way.

Some of these "chili powder" recipes include powdered garlic and oregano. I never do that. I have a separate jars of granulated garlic and minced garlic. I shovel from those into each dish "to taste". Powdered hot chili peppers are a separate matter!

(These are not recommendations, just sample recipes so you can gauge how much cumin to try.)
http://www.food.com/library/cu...
http://www.thekitchn.com/from-...
http://www.foodnetwork.com/rec...

I store purchased whole chili peppers in an organza bag. Then I chopp them into chunks using a pair of tin snips, thinking they might dry a little more. The chunks are much easier to chop uniformly than whole peppers are. Plus, I remove the stems at this stage.

Then I chop them pretty fine in a coffee bean "grinder". Not really a grinder, since it has sharp blades like a food processor. For my batch size, the small coffee "grinder" was a better fit than a big blender.

The dry dust blows around very easily, and it turned my kitchen into a bio-hazard zone for a week!
After the blades stop spinning, tap all the powder into one corner, and then let the dust settle for 30 seconds before opening it up!

I used old napkins to wipe up the visible dust, but I made the mistake of leaving one of those "hot zone" napkins un-thrown-away. Using it to wipe my fingers the next day was a BIG mistake, because then I touched my face.


I ground each pepper type separately, then mixed them several different ways.
I like some peppers that are not very spicy themselves, as a base for different mixes.
- New Mexico from different sources
- Guajillo
- Chili Negro
- fruit stand "dried California peppers", probably Anaheim, very mild
- commercial chili powders with some flavor but little heat

I can't grow peppers myself, but I buy dried peppers like:
Arbol
Thai
Cayenne (powder)

Now I mostly use my "Mild Mix", and a doctored version of Fred Meyer's "Fiesta" chili powder with some heat added as a "spice base". Then I add a little of something hot, or a lot of some mild pepper with a strong flavor.

For "compounding" my mixes, and for adding them to dishes, I rely heavily on a set of mini-measuring spoons that include 1/32 tsp, 1/16 tsp and 1/8 tsp.

I usually test and refine my mixes using a cup of beef or chicken bullion. First I steep it with something I already mixed, then add a tiny amount of whatever I'm considering adding. The flavor takes a while to extract itself. That's when I wish I had 1/64th tsp or 1/100 tsp measuring spoons!

P.S. For everything except the hottest peppers, I was happy with small flakes or "granulated" size. But I like the hottest peppers to be real fine powder so they can mix uniformly even if I don't include a lot of them.
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Jun 16, 2014 6:24 PM CST
Name: Sandy B.
Ford River Twp, Michigan UP (Zone 4b)
(Zone 4b-maybe 5a)
Charter ATP Member Bee Lover Butterflies Birds I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Greenhouse Region: United States of America Region: Michigan Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Welcome to ATP, Turtle!

As Rick said, there is a significant difference between what is sold as "chili powder" and what you will get by making ground/powdered dried chilies. If you're only using dried chilies, what you get will more or less -- depending on what kind of peppers you use -- approximate cayenne pepper. Chili powder, on the other hand, does include other ingredients. So, basically it just depends on what flavor you're looking for.

Here's a pretty simple recipe that I found on Food.com :

1/4 cup sweet paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1. Place all ingredients in a small container with a tight-fitting lid and shake to mix.

2. Store in a cool, dark place.


And, of course, you can vary the ingredients and amounts according to your own preference! Smiling
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." ~ Albert Schweitzer
C/F temp conversion
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Jun 16, 2014 6:35 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Turtle
Willamette Valley (Zone 8a)
Organic Gardener
Wow, RC and Weedwhacker, that is a lot of very helpful info. I had no idea about some of it.

With regard to cumin: I don't need to add it to my 'chili powder' because where some folks would use a teaspoon of it I use half a cup!

I already have the 1/32 tsp etc, so now I feel ready to take this on. Unless I need to find my handlens and count individual grains!

Thank you again. Hurray!
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Jun 16, 2014 6:40 PM CST
Name: Sandy B.
Ford River Twp, Michigan UP (Zone 4b)
(Zone 4b-maybe 5a)
Charter ATP Member Bee Lover Butterflies Birds I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Greenhouse Region: United States of America Region: Michigan Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Turtle said:With regard to cumin: I don't need to add it to my 'chili powder' because where some folks would use a teaspoon of it I use half a cup!


LOL, I love cumin, too! Smiling
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." ~ Albert Schweitzer
C/F temp conversion
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Jun 16, 2014 6:47 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
>> Unless I need to find my handlens and count individual grains!

I like the way you think!

But a microgram balance will give you more consistent results ...

;-) Whistling
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Jun 17, 2014 11:08 AM CST
Name: Tom
Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Butterflies Vegetable Grower Keeper of Poultry Irises Keeps Horses Dog Lover
Daylilies Cat Lover Region: Wisconsin Celebrating Gardening: 2015
I never had a real recipe, just blended my own from peppers that I grew. I always add some cumin to my chili soup as a separate ingredient, but it's nice to see an actual recipe for it.
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
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Jun 17, 2014 11:28 AM CST
Name: cheshirekat
New Mexico, USA Zone 8 (Zone 8a)
Bee Lover Dog Lover Herbs Garden Procrastinator Vegetable Grower
My mouth is salivating when reading this forum. I don't have any peppers ready to harvest yet. Actually, I haven't seen anything but flowers on my plants so far. I'm getting very anxious with July 4th and my birthday just around the corner. I want to eat peppers grown in my own garden for those days, especially for my birthday.

I had to go to Walmart yesterday, because I needed another gallon of milk. I go through about 3 gallons a month. I know I should have gone to Smith's because it is much closer, but Itty Bitty and I wanted an outing that wouldn't bring us home too quickly. And Walmart does have a garden area. Just to look. Hehehehe.

The peppers in my garden have a lot of room because the seeds I sowed have been a no-show. So disappointing, because I wanted a lot of Anaheim peppers. All the Anaheim at Walmart looked tiny and/or not so healthy. The best looking were the Marconi, I think. But I have never had those, that I know of. And then I saw a few cayenne that looked really good. I decided to make note of them because payday is just a couple days away. But somehow, my hands didn't get the message and they picked up a cayenne and put it in my cart. Okay, so we will visit with the plant as we roamed the garden center, which was completely empty except one security guard. Itty Bitty and I spent a couple hours going up and down each aisle and getting the wheelchair cart stuck several times. Security guard came to the rescue and I think she was very relieved to have something to do.

We finally made it to the checkout and I just couldn't part with my little cayenne pepper. It was marked down and so inexpensive, that I decided to pass on the lettuce I was going to get for making soft tacos. And a bit less store-bought peppers. This morning, I rushed out to the garden to water after I made the new cayenne addition comfortable in its new home. Now I just gotta hope Home Depot has some healthy Anaheim's when I go buy some 2x4, probably on Thursday. I have room for 2 more pepper plants in ground. Three more, if I'm really greedy. Many more if I manage to add more planters to the yard.

I have never made my own dried peppers - I usually eat them up too quickly. But this year, I am growing more peppers than I have before because last year the harvest was so pitiful. The roommate doesn't like peppers or garlic as much as I do, but since we usually cook our own meals, I enjoy my food much more with a lot of peppers and a lot of garlic. With the amount of peppers I will hopefully harvest, I plan to learn to dry some for the winter. And experiment with making my own powder. I love the flavor of the Anaheim peppers, so getting a couple more plants would be great, to use them as the base for my powders. And, I will probably do all the grinding and chopping outside because the house doesn't have good ventilation as most of the windows won't open. The kitchen windows don't open at all.
"A garden is a friend you can visit any time." - Anonymous
Avatar for cycadjungle
Jul 26, 2014 10:10 PM CST
Lakeland Florida (Zone 9a)
Bromeliad Seller of Garden Stuff Vegetable Grower Tropicals Seed Starter Pollen collector
Native Plants and Wildflowers Region: Florida Container Gardener Cat Lover Cactus and Succulents Xeriscape
I make about 30 pounds of hot pepper powder a year. I take the fresh peppers and cut them in half and dry them out in a Nesco dehydrator. I then take the crispy peppers and grind them into a fine powder with a small coffee grinder, that I only use for peppers. (obviously)
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Jul 28, 2014 2:56 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Cool! Do you sell the chili pepper powder, or do you eat a LOT of hot food?

What varieties of chili peppers do you grow? I guess that, in Florida, you don't have to worry about summers being long enough, or hot enough.

A friend who lives in Thailand now asked for some hot pepper seeds to give to his friends for some variety. I used to collect them, but can't grow them, so I mostly gave up collecting.

I don't have that list handy right here, but it included these:

Trinidad Scorpion Red (Moruga?)
Bhut Jolokia / Naga Ghost
Guam Boonie pepper
some 7-Pot peppers
some Aji peppers
and, for variety, the relatively mild "Fish Pepper".
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Jul 28, 2014 4:48 PM CST
Name: Sandy B.
Ford River Twp, Michigan UP (Zone 4b)
(Zone 4b-maybe 5a)
Charter ATP Member Bee Lover Butterflies Birds I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Greenhouse Region: United States of America Region: Michigan Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Tom, that IS a lot of hot pepper powder -- inquiring minds want to know what you do with all that ?? I'm all ears!

Rick, you can't grow hot peppers? One year I grew some orange habaneros, thinking they wouldn't really do very well for me up here... but they were extremely productive (on top of being extremely hot!) so then, when I already had all those peppers, I started looking for recipes to use them in... and found that everything called for about 1/4 of one habanero pepper Blinking I actually ended up drying most of them and giving them away. I'll probably get crazy and grow something like that again, but meanwhile I'm just sticking with my jalapenos, hot bananas, cayennes., and other "normally hot" hot peppers. Hilarious!
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." ~ Albert Schweitzer
C/F temp conversion
Image
Jul 28, 2014 5:12 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
I didn't try peppers, after tomatoes humbled me.

Cherry tomatoes, yes, at least "early" ones. . 'Stupice', yes kind of, for a few weeks until some cool evenings occur.

I think peppers need more heat than tomatoes, don't they? Or more warm days?

I have cool nights all summer. Which are great for sleeping, but not for warm-weather crops. I live just 2-3 miles from Puget Sound / Possession Sound.
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Jul 28, 2014 5:19 PM CST
Name: Tom
Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Butterflies Vegetable Grower Keeper of Poultry Irises Keeps Horses Dog Lover
Daylilies Cat Lover Region: Wisconsin Celebrating Gardening: 2015
It's Cycadjungle who makes 30 lbs. of chili powder, not me. I use a lot, but nothing near that! Rolling on the floor laughing Some years, most likely this is one of them, the season isn't long enough for them to ripen. Of course if the weight is of the peppers before drying, it might be a lot less.
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
Avatar for cycadjungle
Jul 28, 2014 5:46 PM CST
Lakeland Florida (Zone 9a)
Bromeliad Seller of Garden Stuff Vegetable Grower Tropicals Seed Starter Pollen collector
Native Plants and Wildflowers Region: Florida Container Gardener Cat Lover Cactus and Succulents Xeriscape
Are we allowed to advertise our business on this forum? I try to keep just talking about things and not trying to sell things, but if someone days it's OK, I can elaborate. But a hint, boy do I have some seriously hot peppers growing! Tom
Thumb of 2014-07-28/cycadjungle/af863e
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Jul 28, 2014 6:29 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
cycadjungle said:Are we allowed to advertise our business on this forum? I try to keep just talking about things and not trying to sell things, but if someone days it's OK, I can elaborate. But a hint, boy do I have some seriously hot peppers growing! Tom


cycadjungle,

I should not speak for @Dave, but I think there is some "OK zone" in-between talking about how you garden for a market, and posting ads or weekly updates of your price list. My take is that literal advertising and selling are not accepted in any forum except maybe :
Classified and Group Buys
and Garden Deals

Since I just called on Dave, he's bound to see your next reply, and can tell you if you went into "too much commercial detail" Then you can edit it or Dave can hide it. But it doesn't sound like you want to post a link and and an ad.

I don't remember explicit "Thou Shalt Not" commercial-posting rules and I couldn't find a thread like that in the Welcome and Help Forum. Hit-and-run advertisers who join one day and post an ad for their business the same day but never contribute anything are NOT welcome. (I see you've already contributed multiple plant images and database proposals.)

Some posts are removed when it's clear that intent was to promote a business, not share a gardening discussion.

I found this in Terms and Conditions:
"the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, ..."

I would guess that you're OK if you don't start advertising inside the post.
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Jul 28, 2014 6:48 PM CST
Garden.org Admin
Name: Dave Whitinger
Southlake, Texas (Zone 8a)
Region: Texas Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Tomato Heads Vermiculture Garden Research Contributor
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Region: Ukraine Garden Sages
Rick summed it up right, cycadjungle. You're fine. Thumbs up Blatant spammers and "hey check out my site for this week's specials" is what we don't want (although even that is allowed in our classifieds forum.)

Only the members of the Members group may reply to this thread.
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