Fall is here!!! The temperatures are dropping into the 30's tonight, the oil furnace is kicking on, and the baby has an electric heater in her room. 10 days ago it was 90 degrees and tomorrow it will be in the high 70s. Fall brings about many changes, changes in the weather, the leaves change color, the winds change direction. This year it brought about an unexpected change for us, my contract was pulled at Microsoft. Fortunately I have found a full time position with a decent commute and will start my new job in 2 weeks.
Tonight we had a frost advisory. Since this wasn't the best season for peppers anyway, I decided to pick all of our ripe sweet peppers and all of the super hots. Even though the super hots are still green instead of their usual orange or red, they are still very hot. However, they are not as hot as they should be. With this batch of peppers, I will combine the super hots with the habaneros. The pungency is about the same between the ripe habaneros and the immature reapers & scorpions.
Processing our peppers is a labor of love. I start by slicing the stem off and cutting the peppers in half. For this step I wear 2 pair of nitrile gloves to keep the capsaicin off of my hands, ESPECIALLY with the super hots (ghost, reapers, and scorpions). Once sliced, I place them on the dehydrator trays. For a dehydrator, we have a simple unit that takes up to 10 round trays. It will dehydrate 10 trays of super hots in 10-12 hours.
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| Finished tray of hot peppers |
Once they are dried, I crush them with a marble mortar and pestle. Before I begin crushing, I will put on a pair of nitrile gloves and a respirator mask. Once the peppers are crushed, I put them in a pint sized mason jar for long term storage.
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| Mortar and Pestle |
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| Dried peppers ready to be crushed |
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| Finished product |
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| Long term storage |
