It sounds as if it just isn't dry enough. Can you put the powder back in the dehydrator for a bit?

I agree with David. Would guess that I have dehydrated maybe a hundred different varieties of peppers and not dry enough is the only reason I can think of unless your storage container isn't airtight or you open it really often.

The only time I've needed a flow-agent is when making rubs or blends and have added something like dried tamarind beans or dried vinegar/sugar pickled peppers.

When storing powders I include a small bag of color-indicating silica gel beads. When the blue beads start changing pink as they absorb moisture I just nuke the beads to get rid of the moisture.

jt

Been my experience that certain powders tend to absorb moisture from the air (and inside the jar) more readily than others.

Paprika is one of them. Even worse is tomato powder, which clumps even as you grind it.

BTW, for future reference, paprika powder oxidizes relatively quickly. So it's best to just keep the dried peppers handy, and grind only what you'll need in the immediate future.

Its the natural oils as well as residual moisture that is causing the clumping. Suggest that you try adding a small amount of silicone dioxide to help reduce any clumping. SD is used in many dry powdered foods as well as in salt. It can be bought through Ames, the Ingredients Store. Its called- 'Flow Agent'. The same supplier sells powdered tomatoes too, and this is great to add to watery sauces. Suggest that it be stored in the fridge, as mine has been loose and powdery for quite some time now. The maximum of 2% of SD added to a powdered paprika will be quite a lot, as it weighs next to nothing even if a half cup of it is used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ingredients store

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, the peppers were dry; but they were very sweet to begin with, so there are sugars present. I tried drying the powder for an additional 3 days; no change.

Gardenlad, your comment on oxidization dovetails nicely with something else I was considering... which is to pulverize the peppers (not grind them) and place them in a pepper grinder (how appropriate!) to grind them fresh as needed. Sadly, I already ground my entire supply this year, so I'll have to test that idea next year.

Ksrogers, thanks for the link. I noticed that "silicone dioxide" (as in sand, glass, & D.E.) is an additive to my commercial paprika. I wondered if there was a source, and how much would be safe to add. As much as I hate using additives, I really love the flavor of the peppers I ground, so I'll probably try it.

Zeedman, if you're using a shaker-top jar, you can add a few grains of rice to the jar. This will help break up any lumps that form.

I do this all the time with my salt & pepper shakers, or otherwise they'd be solid masses, what with our high humidity.

My experience with growing peppers - include the Anaheim - (are these the same as ancho?), the Thai peppers (really hot) and jalapeno, outside of the Bell peppers.

When buying ground peppers, they are named:

Chili powder (growing name?)

Cayenne ??

Paprika ?

I also see dried California chili and Mexican chili pods.

If I grow peppers for making paprika - what type/types do I need, also cayenne or commercial "chili powder."

Sorry if that sounds a bit dumb, but would appreciate knowing how to grow and make these powders.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

I buy paprika by the lb, usually from Penzeys, and keep it in the freezer. Our growing season is too short and too cool for peppers to ripen to red, unless they are in containers and can be started considerably earlier and brought inside in Sept.

Anyway, frozen paprika seems to retain its flavor very well, and stays dry, and its pretty easy to open the bag, measure out what's needed, and pop it back in the freezer.

I have found that places like Penzys and Spices Etc, have high prices for some common dried ingredients. Instead, I prefer to get mine from sausage making suppliers. A good example was when I wanted to get some chinese 'wood ears', which are black in color, dried, and added to many asian soups. One of the suppliers mentioned sells a HALF an ounce for about $9.00. I found another source for the same thing and bought a whole POUND for the same money. A pound of these dried wood ears fits in a big bag 2 feet by 3 feet!

A good pepper for paprika is a pimento type. These are fairly prolific and are smaller than most bell types, as well as being a bit thicker and meaty. Their heart shape is pointed at the bottom, and they roast up very easily.

I'm drying the last of the Anaheims that I planted earlier this year. The rest were dried and canned into enchilada sauce (turned out quite well-I thought). I also made some pimento strips out of some of the fresh ones. First blackened the skins, peeling, slicing and freezing in a bit of salted water.

Perhaps I will try to grind those that are still air-drying in the window. Some of them were dried in a slow oven - those I made into enchilada sauce - but took quite a long time to dry completely that way. So decided to try to just continue to dry in the warm place in the window for now.

Previous years, they were strung on a fish line (ristrau) and hung on a nail on the south side of the house - took quite a bit of time. Used this method for the dried smaller Thai peppers also, and prefer the natural way to the dehyrator.

But - I'm still confused as to what kind of peppers make what kind of powders. The ones I buy already dried in the stores here - don't say what type of pepper it is. I note the California peppers dried are much milder than the New Mexico types that are darker and about the same size - perhaps a bit bigger.

I assume my Anaheims are like the California peppers - more mild, but what about poblanos - not too sure if they all will grow here but had luck with the Anaheims this year, and willing to give others a try, but need more info as to what will make the powders I'm looking for.

Bejay

Bejay, Ancho are the dried form of Poblano, just as chipotle are the smoked/dried form of jalapeno. Near as I know, dried Anaheims do not change name (most chilis don't).

Anchos make an incredible chili powder, albeit on the mild side.

Cayenne powder (often identified merely as red pepper) is simply the dried, powdered cayenne pepper.

Just as a side-track: Creole and Cajun seasoning is merely cayenne, dried, powdered, and mixed with salt and garlic powder. If you use those, you can make your own much less expensively.

Unless specified (i.e., Ancho Chili Powder), commercial chile powder can be anything the manufacturer wants to use. Most of them, I understand, use New Mexico or similar chilis, but there are no rules I'm aware of.

Generically, any powdered hot pepper makes "chili powder." If you make your own, just identify them by the chili you use.

For instance, I dry and grind mixed baccatums into a powder I simply call Baccatum Powder. With my yellow squash peppers, I label it "Yellow Squash Powder." Etc.

Paprika is a similar case. In Hungary, and much of central Europe, paprika runs the gamut from very sweet & mild to blazing hot. An Hungarian housewife might have 20 different jars on her shelf. So you have to decide what sort of flavor you're looking for, and grow that type of pepper.

Most (but not all) peppers destined to become paprika are identified as either a paprika pepper or as a pimento pepper. But keep in mind that in Spain, "pimento" is generic for "pepper."

A fairly common paprika pepper is Boldogi Spice, which is sold in the U.S. under that name, and aka Boldog Spice, Boldog Red Spice, and Boldogi Red Spice. It makes a paprika that is a smidge sweeter than the typical Spanish paprika sold in stores, but not as sweet as an Hugarian sweet paprika.

Ancho is one of my favorites. Not hot enough to most anyone. The ppwder is deep red and very flavorful. If you looking for specific kinds of peppers, suggest that you look at several seed catalogs. Some peppers don't grind into powder very well. A recent one I bought whole was deseeded, and then ground up in a coffee grinder (blender type). The result was still many flakes that just didn't grind down even after several mnutes.

Wow - It never occurred to me that "pepper" powders are derived from so many different places. Somehow, I thought each ground pepper came from an individual parent.

As with the enchilada sauce I made, I used a blend of the dried ancho that were harvested this summer and dried, then added some California dried and some New Mexico - that I had bought. So on cooking the mix prior to canning, I felt it needed a "zing" so added some dried Thai that were left from last year, then tasted for salt and pepper until I had the right blend for my (subdued tasters). All-in-all, I thought it was great.

However, it made me take a look at the commercial types in my cupboard, and that got me wondering.

About those Hungarian types, I assume they are blends and not individual peppers - (smart thinking girl), but anyway, thanks for the "heads-up" and guess I will do a bit more seed catalog research for this coming summer's crop.

Appreciate the comments. Don't think I've ever heard of "wood ears" before. Those Thai soups, however, can be very tasty. Maybe those ears are one of the secrets, but I could have sworn the last time I tried bamboo "soup" it had "lots" of Thai type peppers in it - whew!

Bejay

Actually, Bejay, most of the paprikas found in Hungary, Bulgaria, and similar places are made from individual peppers, rather than being blends.

There's more to it than heat differences, too. Each has a particular flavor, and a paprikash made with one type will taste completely different than a parikash made with another.

I stumbled across a website a few months ago (which I can't find now), trying to see if it was a good idea to fry the paprika in oil, or just stir it in to what ever sauce I was making. The site brought up the various points made by Gardenlad above.

I did find that the secret, as it were, to the great Hungarian and Bulgarian paprika dishes is to gently heat the powder in the pan with oil, watching and sniffing it while stirring constantly, until the aroma is released, and then proceed with the rest of the recipe. This heat / stir / sniff routine varies from one paprika variety to another, due to the sugar content. Anyway, I tried it, and it does make a lot of difference. A bit too long, though, it turns bitter.

So far, anyway, the best quality, re flavor, of Sweet Hungarian paprika that I've found comes from Penzey's. Their "Half-Sharp" packs too much of a punch for liberal use in a sauce or stew, but is perfect for sprinkling on top of things.

David, you'll find that cooking in oil helps release the full flavor of _all_ powdered peppers. Try it with chili powder sometime, and see the difference it makes.

Hmmm - chili in the oil - will give it a try.

Incidentally, I'm wondering if the "clumping" factor may be the way it is dried. As I mentioned in an earlier post, drying the peppers outside in the sun seemed to keep the peppers expanded as they dried. However, when dried in the oven/dehydrator, it made folded places to hide seeds in, and perhaps that may be a factor when grinding into powder.

I didn't try to keep those I grew this summer, drying in a dehydrator, as I used them right away, preparing/canning into sauce.

I prefer the outside drying method that I did last year on Thai's and anchos which were part of last summers crop.

Hope to try growing more varieties of peppers this year, now I'm getting curious and would like to grow and grind a lot more of those powders - thanks for all of the learning.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

The wood ears are mostly black in color. They usually come dried and when rehydrated are like soft rubber. They swell up quite a lot and offer very subtle flavor. They are used more for color, texture and appearance. You usually see them in hot an sour soup, along with lilly buds, tofu, and many other veggies. When I made roasted pepper spread, I used fresh and dried peppers of all kinds.

Good idea what to do with all those extra peppers. Most of mine are for frying but friend has a variety of warm ones.

ML

I made a batch of roasted peppers last summer. They were left on the gas gril heater bars and allowed to go black. Placed in a big bag the cool and skins fall right off.