I harvested seed from one of those ornamental purple leaved peppers one year and also noticed my eyes and nose burning from the dust. Once I was scraping seeds out of hot peppers before they went into a sauce. The peppers were small, it was easier to use my fingernail. Well, that pepper juice got underneath my nail - that really burned. At some point I must have rubbed the corner of my eye, as well which also burned pretty good...I'm pretty careful with hot peppers now.

I've posted several times in the past about fermenting hot peppers, and IMHO, the result is considerably better than the sauces made with vinegar. I'm getting ready to ferment two batches, one with peppers that have turned red - these I've picked and frozen as they turn red - and one batch with green ones. I've grown several varieties of hot peppers - jalapenos, Chili Noir, several of my own inadvertent (eh-hem) 'hybrids' from saved seed. What I'll do is follow the salt ratio for sauerkraut - 3 tablespoons for 5 lbs peppers. So weigh the peppers, drag the food processor outside and chop up them up, then put the result in a 3 gallon crock with the appropriate amount of salt along with some whey or kefir powder, then weigh it all down with plastic bags filled with water, set the crocks in a cool place, put them in a saucer so any spillage won't eat the floor, and then wait 3 - 5 weeks, checking occasionally. That result will be run through a food mill to remove skins and seeds, and then I'll see what I've got. I may add vinegars to cut it, may add fruit juice, who knows. That result can say in the fridge for months. I generally leave a quart or two in the fridge and can the rest. There is a fizzy complexity of flavor thats just hard to describe, but it leaves tobasco sauce in the dust. Looking at the above-mentioned Canadian site, they have a completely different method, but I don't see why it wouldn't work out just fine for smaller batches of peppers.

Chris, I am interested in both the Golden Cayenne and the White Bullet Habaneros. I would only need/want 6 seeds from each. I have seeds for; Red Savina Habaneros Red Rocotos (can only spare @ 5 seeds) Ground Cherries Yellow Pear Tomatoes Super Hot Chiles (not sure of purity) White Currant Cherry Tomatoes Red Okra seeds I also have many other seeds for flowers if you are interested. I will also have seeds from my Black Czech Hot Pepper, which I bagged(2 peppers for seeds), to prevent crossing. These are just now ripening. I also have seeds ordered from Tough Love Chile Co. (which I could spare a few [5 to 15]) for; Caribbean Red Habanero Charleston Cayenne Scotch Bonnet Orange Habanero Piquin Tabasco Tepin Thai Hot I only need to start maybe 5 seeds from each, from a pkg of 20 ... I only have room for a couple of each plant. I will grow them in the ground and in 5 gallon bucket pots. I plan to over winter any chiles I like in 5 gallon buckets. I should receive my ordered seeds in the mail very soon. Michael

do NOT buy seed on Ebay. sorry but been ripped off too many times by their plant and seed sellers. because the window to leave feedback is so short, many seed/plant sellers on Ebay feel free to screw people with impunity.