RE: [CH] Spice mill or grinder

Jeff Thompson (jeffthompson@mac.com)
Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:54:09 -0400 

For large batches of peppers, I use an old "as seen on TV" food dehydrator
to dry my peppers (in the garage, else my wife would kill me) and then use
my Vitamix blender, with the dry/grains container, to grind them.

Since the Vitamix uses an engine that could probably get a two-seater plane
off the ground, the biggest problem I've had is with the dust it generates,
which (depending on the pepper) approaches the levels of weapons-grade
tear-gas. I control this by placing a damp tea towel over the top of the
blender (between the lid/cap and the container) to act as a filter to
capture any dust that may leak out... you can skip this if you like opening
the blender and getting maced; I'm just not a huge fan of the 10 minutes of
coughing and sneezing that normally results.

The other nice thing about using the Vitamix, is that I can add other herbs
and spices (as well as other milder peppers for filler) to the grind and
make large quantities of pre-mixed "chili powder" in addition to just making
straight-up "powdered chiles".



Jeff T.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com
[mailto:owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com] On Behalf Of Jonathan Smillie
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 7:36 AM
To: CH List
Subject: [CH] Spice mill or grinder

  It's getting to the season of the year where I start wondering what to 
do with all the extra chiles ("What are extra chiles?" I hear you ask) 
from my garden- but since I can only make so much hot sauce at a time, 
and I have hundreds of frozen unripe habaneros left over from LAST 
year's crop, this is a pressing question...

I've tried making ground chile before, with varying degrees of success, 
mainly due (I think) to the more or less retail-grade coffee grinder I 
use to grind spices. I'd like to get something a bit more effective, 
particularly in making very fine grinds, but I'm at a loss. Does anyone 
have experience with either a powered or hand-driven spice grinder that 
they like?

Thanks

Jonathan