The part they didn't tell me. . .

jhouse4755 said:
It started innocently enough. Husband Robin was given some homemade hot pepper flakes from a welder guy at work, "let's grow hot peppers" he said. And make hot pepper flakes. "Okay", I said. Seemed simple enough. 
 
Now it looks like crazy people live in our house. 
 
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NowThatsFunny.gif
 
yep, crazy be good. Husband has fallen in love with the Caribbean Reds. 
 
update: found that this method in our climate (southwest Ohio) has some molding problems. We ordered a dehydrator and rescued the majority of the peppers which are in refrigeration awaiting the dehydration process. 

It did look really cool for a couple of days though! 
 
 
:)
 
thanks, will do that. 
 
How bad are the fumes? I can handle smell, just don't want burning eyes. I cut many in half and refrigerated in prep for the dehydrator, fumes didn't bother my eyes from that. Dehydrator arrives tomorrow. 
 
I did find out however, that eventually the heat will come through the disposable rubber gloves -- I was cutting them and pulling open, then layering between paper towels to avoid molding. The burn was actually kind of nice, just more of a gentle warmth. 

 
 
jhouse4755 said:
 
 
How bad are the fumes?
 
I did find out however, that eventually the heat will come through the disposable rubber gloves --
 
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I'm not sure what it is that emanates from the dehydrator but can assure you they cannot be dried indoors where people live.

You need nitrile gloves not the cheap latex ones generally available.
 
In a way, the fumes from dehydrating chiles is like their heat - some people can handle it but others cannot. The fumes don't bother me at all, doesn't matter what kind, and I dehydrate mine inside the house. They also don't bother my son. On the other hand, you will see posts on this forum indicating that some people (often spouses of chileheads) refuse to allow chile drying inside. You won't know until you give it a try. 

And welcome to the forum, from N.E. Ohio!
 
thanks for the welcome fellow Ohioan!

Working on my second batch in the kitchen -- doing red carribeans (type of habanero I think) -- smell is okay, fairly pungent, not having a problem with the fumes at all -- 10 full trays in a Nesco dehydrator. So not a problem for me, the spouse of a chilehead. 
 
Didn't know about the nitrile gloves, I used the cheap disposables from the health dept of Walmart, I did double glove and cut up a whole bunch of them, not a problem. 

I de seeded most of them, more for better drying than anything else. Husband is a bit worried they won't be as hot, some of them do have some seeds in so we'll see. I think there are a bunch more to picked in the garden, so there's still time for a hotter batch :)

Thanks again all for all your help , this was my first year for very hot peppers, had a bumper crop and the making of flakes is very exciting. Got a neat blender too from Amazon, excited to try it today -- think I found out about it from a link on this site. It's a Bella personal rocket blender. 

Jan H. 
 
I use a coffee grinder to make my shaker. Just watch out when you open your blender. There will be fine dust. But the more my eyes water, my nose runs, sneezing and coughing, the hotter the shaker will be.
 
"I use a coffee grinder to make my shaker. Just watch out when you open your blender."

I use this method....
 
Fill coffee grinder - wrap in a plastic left over supermarket bag sealing opening at bottom - grind peppers and remove cap inside bag - wait 5/10 minutes - carefully remove bag  with cap - place a plastic baggie over the grinder and gently pour powder in - seal baggie.
 
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