What an inspiration! The results of your PPPD look both tasty AND beautiful.

Sure looks purty! :-)

Play all you want. Just don't inhale.

powder looks great ottawa made some up myself the last few days i have been eating it on nearly everything have another 10 lbs of smoked bhut on the dehydrators now.

How do you get them to look so pretty Bill? deseed first? My blends never look that pretty (although when I blend, I just grab all the dried peppers I have, all varieties all colors and throw them into the blender until powdered :-)).

Pam

Very nice!
I love the pre-mix shot....has that "sand art" feel to it.
I've never come across a powder as finely ground as Bill's either.
Everything else seems chunky by comparison.

Josh

Geez Bill.....every time I feel like I'm getting the hang of this stuff, you go and show off. :) I guess as long as you're around, I'll always have something to strive towards! Beautiful powder. I know if you made it, it taste at least as good as it looks!

Tim

Bill, did you use a coffee/spice mill to do that? I don't think you can get that result with a food processor. Rick

Thank’s everyone.

DMForcier, I could have used one of those. I had my safety goggles and respirator on for most of the grinding. When I did my mixing and final grind I got lazy and didn’t use them. All was going well until I got an itch in the corner of my left eye. Being smarter than your average bear, I stopped myself from using a finger to rub the itch. Instead I did that blowing up out of the corner of my mouth thing. It never occurred to me that I’d have powder and flakes on my cheeks between the glasses and respirator. Ended up blowing stupid hot powder in my eye. While I soaked my left eye with a wet face cloth my right eye started to burn. Again, being smarter that your average bear, I turned the cloth upside down to cool off my right eye. It never occurred to me that the bottom of the cloth was soaking up the pepper powder on my face. Ended up blinding myself for half an hour.

Armageddon, you’re crazier than me. 10 lbs on the dehydrator!

Pam, I usually grind each variety individually. It’s more time consuming but I find doing smaller batches gives me better control over the grind. Once I put my blend of individual powdered varieties together I do one final blend to mix. I guess the trick is multiple grinds.

rick_in_va, I used to use a cheap coffee grinder until I burnt it out. I’ve now commandeered my GF’s Magic Bullet. I also use a KitchenAid blender for larger batches. I’m seriously thinking of “investing” in a burr grinder.

Tim, I sent you an email. I don’t know if most would think it tastes good but I’m willing to use you as a Guinea Pig to test it out. If it doesn’t kill you then blend #5 can’t be that bad ;-))

OK folks, I wasn’t trying to show off like cruel, insensitive and crusty Tim insinuated

Truth be told, the “sand art” look that Josh referred to was not by design. It was one of those purely serendipitous things. I was just over half way through adding powders when I noticed the look. Thought it was cool and wanted to share.

Also, there is no way I could design a final product based on the tongue “taste” of 12 hot and super hot powders. Heck, my face is numb after sampling the first couple. Since most of what we perceive as "taste" actually is a result from our sense of smell, I usually use my nose to get a final blend. Each of my individual powdered varieties has varying levels of heat, fundamental pepper flavour and smoke. I start with 4 or 5 varieties I think would go together well and then add more or less of others one at a time to tweak the blend until I can’t smell or see anymore (a little to hot - cut it with this milder one, a little to smoky - add some of this, etc. etc.).

I document what amount of various powder goes into my blends. I was pretty happy with a couple I mixed up last year BUT they included a good proportion of that not-Jonah pepper. Since it's not stable I'm back to square one trying to get back to where I was. I won't complain, it's fun playing with powders!

Bill

You guys have inspired me to get busy and dry & grind my Japones - a good rainy day activity. They are toward the lower end of the heat scale so the flakes/powder can be used for many purposes.I do like to get most of the seed out, so that's pretty time-consuming.
John A

Bill,

Please tell me that a Magic Bullet is some kinda food processor, not something your GF uses when you are out of town!

Rick

Rick,

It's a food processor thing I use for grinding.

My GF said she gets a neighbor to do the grinding when I'm out of town. Strange? She doesn't even like peppers?

Bill

HAHAHA!!! You fellas crack me up! :-D

Josh