Do you know what makes a mom happy? This was a call from Chad recently:
Chad: You know what I really wish you would make for me?
Me: What?
Chad: If it isn’t too much trouble and when you’re feeling better.
Me: OK . . what do you want? (With Chad, you never ever know what he might be wanting!)
Chad: Last year you gave me some sweet pepper powder and I’ve used almost all of it!
ME: That’s easy! I can do it!
He went on to tell me that he wanted a really big jar of it this year but I told him several smaller jars would be better.
Sunday I picked enough peppers to fill one dehydrator. For the sweet pepper mix, I used banana, bell, pimento and added just a couple of jalapeno peppers just to give it a bit of a boost.
For all of them, I cut out the core and seeds and chopped them, obviously into big chunks.
Peppers
Half the dehydrator had sweet peppers and half had hot peppers – jalapeno, poblano, chili and tabasco peppers.
Peppers
Once dried, they went into the Vita-Mix. I took the container outside and dumped the peppers into it.
Peppers
Then I brought the container in and ground the peppers. If you’re doing this, be sure to let it sit for a while before taking the lid off. The powder is fine and it’s floating around this stuff will take your breath away. If I’m doing more than a small batch (this is a small batch), I wear a particulate respirator. These respirators are so good to have around. Vince uses them when it’s dusty and he’s cutting grass or when he’s chipping cedar for mulch or sanding or anything that generates dust or . . particulate. I use them when dealing with powders in the kitchen that can be irritating. They’re very good to have in your supplies if you’re a prepper. Full Disclosure: They’re a 3M product.
Pepper Powder
Next they were sifted to get out any big chunks. The sifter is placed inside the canning funnel and those are placed inside the jar.
Sifting Pepper Powder
The powder was put into a half pint jar with a
Jar with Herb Shaker Lid
These lids are great because close tightly, they flip up for shaking. The holes are big enough to let roughly chopped pieces through . . like basil, oregano, rosemary, etc., but a gentle shake is all it takes for the finely ground pepper.
Shaker
The Herb Shaker Caps can probably be found locally but, if not, you can order them here.
Herb Shaker Cap
This blog post is long . . pictures are bit. I assure you that it took me longer to write this post than it took me to make the pepper powder, not counting the dehydrating time!
patti says
while you’re talking dehydrating, i have a question as the only thing i’ve done is beef jerkey (which gets eaten right away). i recently dried cherries and put them into pint jars which i sucked down using my vacuseal — much like the salad in a jar. that was just over a week ago and they look fine to me so far… any idea how long i might expect them to keep?
Liz says
My question is, how do you use the powder? What type of dishes do you put it in?
Judy Laquidara says
Anywhere you would use bell peppers or sweet peppers. During the winter when bell peppers are $1.00 each or when I don’t know that I’ll be needing one and need the flavor. I use it soups, stews, gumbo, gravy, casserole. It gives the exact same flavor as does using real peppers. Chad doesn’t like to bite into a pepper so I’m sure he uses it for everything that suggests a pepper.
Susan says
That’s a great idea. I toss a handful of dehydrated red and green bell peppers in almost everything you can imagine. I just like that extra flavor and the extra vegetable, but I really prefer orange an yellow ones. I need the dehydrator! Maybe next year.