This week I am digging my little cayenne peppers, all over again. I had a really big harvest of them this fall, all from one plant. Here are some of them.
I processed some of them at the time, for immediate consumption, and hung the others to dry. Then I forgot all about them because they are hanging in the far window of the dining room where I don’t tend to be, very frequently. Hmm…
Luckily for me, the man noticed them the other day and pointed out that they seem to be getting very dry and asked what my plans for them are. Cue me, blowing it off, “oh yeah, I was just giving them a bit more time.” Whew, who knows when I would’ve noticed them or remembered to retrieve them?? Probably some time next year!
He was not kidding – they are D-R-Y for sure. They might look kind of still “juicy” in the pictures:
Close-up:
But when I took them down yesterday, I could hear the seeds rattling around inside when I shook them. Fun! They are very dry. In fact, when I cut one open, even slowly and gently, I could hear the crunch of the shell and as soon as it opened up all the seeds flew out.
Well, now I am planning to try my hand at making a crushed red pepper seasoning. I will post again after I’ve finished and let you know how it went.
UPDATE – I went ahead and and crushed the peppers up using my small grinder. I’ve used this grinder for other things over the years (coffee beans, flax seeds) and it worked very well for grinding the dried peppers.
After getting them to the consistency I wanted, I put the peppers in a glass spice jar with an airtight lid and I’m storing them with my other dried herbs and spices. I’ll keep an eye on them to get a better understanding of their lifespan. Although I’d like to use them up long before they would go bad.
Have a great weekend!
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