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condiments Infused Hot Pepper Salt

Well, I have seen YouTube videos of people making infused "finishing" salts with rosemary, sage and other herbs. Can the same process be done with Super Hots?  I've used the search feature here to no avail.  Take some coarse salt toss it in a food processer with some fresh peppers for a bit till combined then let sit and dry or toss in the oven or a dehydrator till it all dry's out?
 
miacova said:
Take some coarse salt toss it in a food processer with some fresh peppers for a bit till combined then let sit and dry or toss in the oven or a dehydrator till it all dry's out?
While I have no experience, I would think mixing a "wet" ingredient with "dry" salt would not work well - I'm thinking you'd end up with a sticky gooey mess?
 
Ive been doing chile-infused salts and seasoning powders for a bit now. Youre going to want to use well-dried peppers. Cut them in half lengthwise and run them at 95-100°F on a food dehydrator until theyre dry and brittle. When youre ready to make your salt/seasoning powder, grind them finely. I have a couple of electric coffee grinders for this (just dont use the same one you grind coffee with!) You can experiment with incorporating all manner of herbs, spices, and aromatics. I have one in the kitchen right now that tastes like spicy cheese pizza. I used salt, a little sugar, ground dehydrated peppers, heirloom tomatoes, oregano, basil, and garlic, and the powdered cheese from a box of Mac and cheese.

Oh, and the best way to store it is in a salt shaker with small holes, with some uncooked white rice thrown in. The rice absorbs moisture, keeping your salt/powder from clumping.

Edit: Autocorrect is Autofail.
 
Wicked Mike said:
You can experiment with incorporating all manner of herbs, spices, and aromatics. I have one in the kitchen right now that tastes like spicy cheese pizza. I used salt, a little sugar, ground dehydrated peppers, heirloom tomatoes, oregano, basil, and garlic, and the powdered cheese from a box of Mac and cheese.
 
This combo sounds interesting.......I'm sittin' here thinkin' WTF would I put it on? (The balls in your court.........
 
Salt is a desiccant. I'm not schooling anyone here on this.  I won't give away trade secrets *hint hint* , but everyone above offering opinions has a degree of merit.
 
It would be my suggestion that any spices (peppers or otherwise) introduced to a salt be just "shy" of actual "dehydration." A fine tuning process you gotta figure for yourself. That "little" moisture just beyond total dehydration will absorb into the salt by natural process. I've kicked it around for years. Using all "dry" ingredients will produce something decent on its own, but the "slight" (and it must be slight) moisture will totally be absorbed by the salt. 
 
miacova,
 
PM me your address and I will send you a bottle of that which I think I have figured it out - using the above process. Process I reveal, ratios I will not.   :cheers:
Honest offer. No strings attached.
 
Reggie
 
I make a "nacho salt" from a combo of three pepper varieties. You can use whatever you have, but I look for characteristics of heat, sweet, moderate pungent in my three varieties. Right now (I was gonna fire up the dehydrator today) I'm using aji limo, Sedona sun, and Apache.

Pretty simple.
Dry peps in dehydrator.
Grind in coffee grinder to a moderate grind. I'm looking for something a little finer than you find at pizza shops.
Then I add around 5% Johnny's popcorn salt. It is a fine granule salt has a few more flavors added (like a bit of the evil msg (common people in 2020, if covid hasn't killed me yet, a little msg isn't gonna phase me ( Msg - fake news))).
Put it in a shaker, and shake it up to mix.

You could use other salts and even grind with the peppers, but I prefer fine granules over powder salt.

What to use it on? Anything that needs a kick with a touch of salt. Like:
Eggs
Pizza
Fries
Hell, almost any potato
Cauliflower
And, of course, Nachos
 
WarrantMan said:
Salt is a desiccant. I'm not schooling anyone here on this.  I won't give away trade secrets *hint hint* , but everyone above offering opinions has a degree of merit.
 
It would be my suggestion that any spices (peppers or otherwise) introduced to a salt be just "shy" of actual "dehydration." A fine tuning process you gotta figure for yourself. That "little" moisture just beyond total dehydration will absorb into the salt by natural process. I've kicked it around for years. Using all "dry" ingredients will produce something decent on its own, but the "slight" (and it must be slight) moisture will totally be absorbed by the salt. 
 
miacova,
 
PM me your address and I will send you a bottle of that which I think I have figured it out - using the above process. Process I reveal, ratios I will not.   :cheers:
Honest offer. No strings attached.
 
Reggie
I probably could have been more clear. When it comes to just salt and peppers, agreed. When it comes to playing around with other ingredients, in particular those that are hygroscopic like sugar, the rice trick helps.
 
fishhead said:
I make a "nacho salt" from a combo of three pepper varieties. You can use whatever you have, but I look for characteristics of heat, sweet, moderate pungent in my three varieties. Right now (I was gonna fire up the dehydrator today) I'm using aji limo, Sedona sun, and Apache.

Pretty simple.
Dry peps in dehydrator.
Grind in coffee grinder to a moderate grind. I'm looking for something a little finer than you find at pizza shops.
Then I add around 5% Johnny's popcorn salt. It is a fine granule salt has a few more flavors added (like a bit of the evil msg (common people in 2020, if covid hasn't killed me yet, a little msg isn't gonna phase me ( Msg - fake news))).
Put it in a shaker, and shake it up to mix.

You could use other salts and even grind with the peppers, but I prefer fine granules over powder salt.

What to use it on? Anything that needs a kick with a touch of salt. Like:
Eggs
Pizza
Fries
Hell, almost any potato
Cauliflower
And, of course, Nachos
Sounds awesome, but you didn’t mention what time I should be there for dinner.
 
Seems like everyone has their own process.. I learned how to make seasoning salt using Ramp leaf, and my process is listed on my profile. I don't do any dehydration of the peppers or leaf when I do it.. Anymore than maybe letting it sit out in the air a little after rinsing and spinning it.

I cut the product into small strips and lay it on a bed of almost 2 cups coarse salt, reserving some to cover the material. I usually get the salt hot first, now, putting it in the oven on Low heat(varying depending on the finish I'm looking for).. Then I just let it sit in there until it's dry. Sometimes this can take 6 hours or more, depending on how you prepare the add-ins. I have learned not to mix it up now, as it works better to just let it sit till dry.. Mixing will cause the damp materials to stick to the pan, instead of infusing the salt. Higher heat will toast it more, burning it if too high. I run anywhere between 170F and 220F.. 220 requires a lot more tending, whereas 170-180 you can be easy. For me a lot of it depends on what other things I'm juggling while doing this, as I can't seem to do ONE thing at a time. I prefer the less smoky versions, but others who enjoy my salts prefer it dark.

I have experimented with the other ways, drying the product and then putting it in the salt, blending the ingredients first(what a mess).. But for Peppers and Ramp leaf, at least, this produces an inferior product to the method I described. Reggie's method is also good, but I don't feel there is much difference in partially dehydrated or not, when you put it in, except you might have more clumping, initially. This isn't just limited to the flavor either.. When you get the juices pulled into the salt, you often get some nice color with it. If I had more examples of the variants I'd picture them for you.. I promise it's a completely different look.
The blending actually isn't bad for the end product, but you will work a lot harder to get there and end up with something really similar anyway.. And you will absolutely have to regrind that, where they other methods you might get away with not, depending on what you want in the end.
For me, this is the way.

If there is any dry spices I want to add to the salt, I wait until after the 'drying' process is over, but I haven't experimented yet with adding it to it while it's still hot, as opposed to waiting till it cools.
My cleanup is a cutting board, knife(or shears), glass pan, plastic scraper, and a measuring cup. The grinder too, if I use it after.
 
I like to salt and spice separately for more control, so take THAT! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😋
 
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