I’ve finally finished the awesome red pepper flakes Blue_Kangaroo gave me a year and a half ago. Man, these things were awesome. I believe they were made of New Mexico chili peppers…they have flavor, not just heat.
Until I can beg her to bring me some more, I found some dried New Mexico red peppers in my local ethnic supermarket. How can I transform these into red pepper flakes? Will a food processor do it, or make them into a paste?
Tools I have: a coffee grinder, a food processor, kitchen shears, a mortar and pestle (marble…it looks purty, but it isn’t all that practical), a cutting board and knife and a Vita-Mix with wet and dry containers.
The first thing I’d do is dry them out even further. If the pods bend at all without shattering, they’re too moist. Once they get to the shatter stage. a few brief pulses with a food processor should do the trick.
Or you could just get some Aleppo Pepper from Penzeys.
“Dried” peppers don’t necessarily mean “dry” peppers. When you bend one, is it brittle enough to break? If not, throw them in the oven at about 200 degrees until they’re crisp. This could take a few hours, but keep an eye on 'em. Let 'em cool, and blend 'em up. Do a couple at a time to find the grind you like. Oh, and beware of the dust from the blender/processor/grinder. Depending on the heat of the chiles, it may make you feel like someone just hit you with pepper spray. If you have a surgical mask, you might want to wear it.
And wash those peppery hands BEFORE you use the bathroom. TRUST me.
I’ve done it just by crumbling the peppers between my fingers directly onto whatever I was seasoning. And for the drying, all I did was to leave them on my countertop and forget about them for a few months.
Wow, I’ve never thought of doing this. I live near the border, and there are dried peppers of all kinds here. I will definitely give this a try; thank you!
I grew a whole bunch of hot cayenne peppers last year, and dried the end-of-year harvest. Am just now finishing up the last of the homemade cayenne powder, which has been delicious.
OP, if you dry them out all the way you won’t get paste, but you might get powder. (Which I preferred, since I can incorporate the flavor & heat more evenly, but you might feel otherwise.)
I’ll try the “pulse” on the food processor to get flakes, but I’m sure I’ll get powder as well. That’s okay, I figure I can shake it through a sieve and jar it as two items! I like both for different applications.
You…you…you’re the reason I’m addicted to these fancy schmancy imported New Mexican peppers, Lady! (Although, now that I think on it, you were cleaning out your cupboards at the time, so these could be from McCormick, for all I know. They were in a clear flip top canister at one point, IIRC. Not as tall as the powder holding one, though. That’s still on my counter, with ground pepper still in it. That was/is a lot of ground red pepper!)
Yep, you gave me flakes and powder. Yummers.
That would be awesome. These should get me through 'til then.
A friend was telling me about how her husband makes pepper flakes. They have a food dehydrator. She didn’t explain but the process but here’s a warning. She said some of the dried peppers/flakes spilled on the kitchen counter. He wiped it down, but she said the residue (which she couldn’t even see) transferred to a bagel that she had set on the counter. It was so hot, she couldn’t eat it.
One other issue, when grinding it up in a processor or blender, let it settle down before opening to check on it. I made some powdered hot pepper in my blender and almost choked to death when I opened the top and inhaled the pepper cloud.
(Although, now that I think on it, you were cleaning out your cupboards at the time, so these could be from McCormick, for all I know. They were in a clear flip top canister at one point, IIRC. Not as tall as the powder holding one, though. That’s still on my counter, with ground pepper still in it. That was/is a lot of ground red pepper!)
