Pepper,Powder,Chips,Oil and Ghosts

"MY EYES, I CAN'T SEE!!"-The author handling peppers: the danger of not wearing proper safety equipment.

Hot peppers are an ingredient some people are scared to touch, let alone use in their dishes, due to their fiery nature. However, Chilli peppers have been used worldwide, from the jungles of the Amazon to the bustling city of Beijing for centuries. The Maya and Aztecs not only used it for food but to treat stomach aches and even arthritis. The capsaicin in the peppers (what makes the pepper "Hot") is a pain killer (National Library of Medicine paper). The pepper is not just an eye-catching, tongue-burning vegetable but medicine. In this instructable, I'll show what you can do with peppers and the versatility of these bundles of fire.

1. . Food Dehydrator(optional but if you are not prepared to wait days or even weeks for your peppers to dry outside this is a good option)
2. .Peppers ( these can be homegrown or bought from the shop of various levels of spiciness. I used four types Habanero, Naga, Machu Picchu and Bird's Eye)
3. .Air fryer(again optional. we used an air fryer to make the potato chips but you can also use a pan to do this)
4. .Pestle and Mortar
5. .clean jars ( to sterilize them and remove any fungus spores that could spread onto your peppers give them a bath with boiling water for ten minutes)
6. .olive oil
7. .Gloves and goggles (vital!)
8. . Potatoes
9. .Photo matte paper(if you want to print the jar lid design attached further on)

To begin with, you will need the hot peppers. Now, I grew the peppers myself as I had the seeds and the patience, but chilli peppers can be easily found in shops with various degrees of spiciness. There is no real benefit to growing peppers at home but I find growing peppers is much more pleasurable and it's always exciting seeing the fruits growing on a plant that you planted a few months ago. Just remember, when you take the fruits off from the plant cut them as close to the start of the pepper stem as you can to prevent the stem from rotting when cutting it off.

Dehydration is a way to remove moisture from the fruit by passing hot air around the fruit increasing evaporation. Having moisture in your fruit increases the chances for mould to form, doing this will increase a pepper's shelf life by several months and the brittle pepper that comes out of the process will also allow you to make a powder from it.

However, if you are doing it naturally, be prepared to wait a long time, especially if you are in a colder country. Here in England, I had to wait for weeks before it was dehydrated*, which is why we bought a dehydrator, which even then took days to dehydrate them ( I suggest leaving the peppers at around 50-55 degrees Celsius when dehydrating. Any higher and you can risk losing some spiciness).

However, by the end, your peppers will be hard and wrinkled. Store these in an air-tight glass container away from direct sunlight to further reduce the chance of rotting.

*Above is a graph showing the loss of water of one of my 36-gram Scotch Bonnet peppers at around room temperature using only natural dehydration. It shows a very steady decrease of water over time but even after 16 days it has only lost 30% of its mass which is a far cry from the 92% it needs to lose to remove all the water in its body. In a temperate country, natural dehydration will take some time.

With your peppers dehydrated, you can decide to either grind the peppers into a powder or leave them to make spicy oil, for example. However, before you decide, You will realise that the peppers are dehydrated seeds as well, ready to be planted. These seeds you can ignore or collect and store, like in the picture above. These can last up to two years (after that, the chance of germination capability drops) in storage, but make sure to keep them away from direct sunlight and regularly check if there is any moisture in the bags. If there is, it will mean the seeds still have some moisture in them, and it is better to dry them so they don't become mouldy.

When you decide to plant them, put them in a pot full of soil, planting them around a cm into the ground and covering it. Put this in a well-lit area and molten the soil (make sure the pot has a drainage hole at the bottom so the plant doesn't become overwatered. After 2 to 3 weeks, it would have germinated, and then it is just a process to give them water only if the plant is sagging. You mustn't overwater them as then the plant will be vulnerable to fungi ( the less water you give them, the spicier the fruit will be as the plant will get stressed and produce more capsaicin as a response). It does not matter if you grow them outside or inside, but when outside, they will be more vulnerable to pests like black bean aphids.

After around six weeks, you will have your own chilli peppers!

Making chilli powder is easy, and the result is highly useful to add just an extra touch of flavour to your food. All you need is a pestle and mortar and a whole lot of grinding. We used a porcelain mortar and pestle as its weight and pores on the surface extract the flavour well and do not lose the heat of the pepper when doing so. If you have a granite one, it will work even better as its extra weight will crush the powder even faster (though you will get a very tired arm afterwards). I recommend staying away from using a blender as the fast blade releases the capsaicin from the pepper more, and you are likely to get it in your eyes, as the quote in the introduction clearly states.

Now I suggest if you're grinding some spicy peppers too, wear gloves and goggles at all times because once it gets on you, it can stay for a long time, and it's not nice. For added security, do this part outside for good ventilation because even if you are protected, you wouldn't want the person behind you getting a nasty surprise. Now grind each pepper down to a powder so that all pieces are less than half a cm large. Once you have the pepper powder ground down, put each powder into a different jar that you sterilised before that (see supplies section) and close it tightly.

If you feel like you didn't get enough powder, grind some more pepper down, but remember, all you need is just a pinch of the stuff to change the flavour of a recipe dramatically.

As it is the season to be scary, I have made some spooky designs that you can place on top of the jar lids as a fun feature, as well as informing the viewer how spicy they are. I have attached the file that can be printed or modified if needed. Happy Halloween!

There is nothing wrong with putting spicy powder in jars but if you want to make your kitchen really stand out how about some chilli pepper themed powder holders. I have scanned one of the peppers from my plant and created a 3d printable model using Openscad. Because it has a hole inside the model in which you can glue a small jar in so you can put your powder inside. This fun addition will really stand out and will show that you are serious about peppers.

After you dehydrate the peppers, you can also easily make some spicy oil that you can drizzle onto your meat and other food. Get some olive oil and put some into a cleaned jar. Remember, the more oil you put in, the more peppers you need to change the flavour. We used around 300ml and placed four chillies inside ( 1 Habanero and 3 Nagas) or around four teaspoons of chilli powder. After that, store it away from direct sunlight and allow the spice to seep into the oil for around two months.

There are many recipes where you can use your powder and oil, but spicy potato chips are an easy recipe that uses both the products you just made.

Cut some potatoes into thin slices and drizzle some of your homemade oil on top of them. Decide whether you want to add some of your chilli powder as well. Add some salt and pepper and put it in the air fryer (or if you don't have one, put it in a pan, make sure you cook them evenly). Cook for about 20 minutes, and you will get some tasty golden chips.

These are an excellent (and healthy!) snack for family and friends to enjoy.

I also suggest making hot sauce out of your peppers because, after all, what is better than having your spicy dip for your Doritos? I have made a whole instructable that will allow you to do exactly that quickly and with great results.

And there you have it, your own powder and oil, base ingredients for many recipes that you can add some real jazz to (one of these recipes attached below inspired the Habanero Jack o' Lantern above). If you are interested, I have also attached a link to some recipes that you can add your ingredients to if you want:

1. Chilli Pumpkin Peppers
2. Spooky Halloween Chilli
3. Jack o' lantern peppers