This is an adventure that seems to happen regularly around this time. I get tired of looking at a pile or a rope of dried hot red peppers and at the same time we are running low on cayenne pepper. Out comes the spice grinder and the ordeal begins.
It starts innocently enough, cutting off the little heads of the peppers and slicing them in half. Discarding the questionable ones. Removing the seeds to the compost bucket. Putting the little husky skin with dried pulp into the spice grinder. I never have rubber gloves available, so I always just forge ahead, thinking how bad could it be?
But as soon as the grinding starts, weird symptoms appear. Uncontrollable ticklings in the back of the throat. Sneezing fits. Runny noses. Inability to get away from the miasma. No, not the flu, cayenne grinding.
After I’m done grinding, the last thing I want to do it open the lid of the grinder. I can see the evil red powder lurking all around the top of the device waiting to billow out. I set it by the door, thinking I’ll deal with it later. Outside.
Good for Sam, he took care of it. He decanted the powder into the jar (outside!) creating a new red layer over what was left from last year. He also cleaned out the spice grinder so it would be semi-suitable for use grinding something else.
Plenty of home grown and ground cayenne.
