Its probably bad form to reply to my own post, especially before anybody else has, but I realize I left off one pretty obvious answer:

7) to save the seed for sowing

Aesthetics and texture for me. Some seeds are downright tough and some downright ugly. Species like C. pubescens are both.

Seedy red podded varieties look a lot nicer with seeds removed, but some (especially small pods) it is just too tedious.

When dehydrating I never go above 125°F to preserve color and capsaicin quality. Sure, it takes 3-4 days instead of 1 day at say 165°, but I think well worth it.

You can easily tell which varieties I didn't remove a lot of the seeds and it looks like the Costeno Amirillo wasn't dried enough before running through a food mill.

These look better:

I make a lot of burrito and nacho mixtures with fresh pods that I just run through the blender and sometimes the seeds are so tough that I have to strain them out before can use. Longer cooking soups or stews seeds don't seem to ever be a problem unless C. pubescens.

Items 1, 4 and 7 are most often used

REAL nice display of hot pepper powders John! Looks like you got that process down to a science. How did those Cherry smoked pods taste?

Chris

> How did those Cherry smoked pods taste?

Chris,

No significant difference (to me) when compared to other fruit woods. Even though I am very sensitive to too much smoking am not particularly discerning when it comes to subtle flavors. Pecan wood is by far my fav and I also like the much stronger taste of mesquite if not used too long. If I recall correctly, cherry wood gave a nice red color to smoked chicken. Quicker than other woods.

The condition of the wood and the heat of the fire make a big difference. That is why I like the pellets or compressed logs as they don't impart a bitter taste when used by amateurs like me.

There are masters like Scotch Bonnet Steve that can completely smoke-dry pods using natural wood logs and never get the bitterness that I sometimes do with hickory etc. For me it is a brief 1 or 2-hr or so smoking and then into the dehydrator to finish up. A fairly recent purchase of an off-set fire chamber smoker has really simplified my pod smoking and especially meat smoking/cooking. Lump charcoal (clean burning) and pellets or compressed smoke logs make things very simple and foolproof.

jt

There's no desirable flavor in the seeds and they stick in between your teeth. No self-respecting epicurian would prefer seeded pepper flakes over unseeded.

oh come on. crushed red pepper rocks on pizza. and thats just destemmed, not deseeded.

seeds add a nutty taste you may or may not want in whatever you are doing, and the membrane that holds the seed to the pith is where the heat is. the main reason beyond flavor to deseed before processing is to remove heat.

"Crushed red pepper rocks on pizza."

Yeah, but let's look at a few things from the point of view of someone who owned a pizza shop:

Bulk crushed red pepper has seeds in it as a result of being processed the easiest, cheapest way possible, and because it weighs more that way and you're paying for what otherwise would be a byproduct or waste.

Secondly, after a being in table use for some time, the shaker contains a higher percentage of seeds to flakes because the flakes seem to get shaken out more readily than the seeds. This results in lots of seeds that get stuck in customers' teeth and in fact detract from the overall dining experience. Besides, having a shaker with 75% seeds and 25% red flakes defeats the entire purpose of using crushed red pepper flakes on pizza in the first place.

If your purpose in using crushed red pepper on pizza is solely to add heat, then I'm sure the pizza shop owner will be glad to give you a shaker full of nothin' but seeds since I have dumped a lot of seedy shakers out into the garbage in my career.

i grow my own, and grind my own. i learned a long time ago to never trust whats on the table (same with the powdered drywall they call parmesan cheese)

all i really want from pizza is a sauce thats savory instead of sweet. sugar is neither an herb nor a spice.

but thats for another thread :)