Red Pepper Flakes

Red Pepper Flakes

Making your own....taste so much better....

Growing these in the garden is fun, they are colorful....I am looking forward to doing another batch or two this garden season....

Ingredients:
1 pound cayenne peppers

Yields:
1/2 cups red pepper flakes

Prep Time:
20 minutes

Cook or Drying Time:

6-8 hours

Directions:

Wash the peppers and pat them dry. Cut the peppers length-wise and take out the pith and seeds. Set oven at 200 degrees and place peppers skin side up, and let roast for about 6-8 hours until roasted, dark and dry. You’ll know the peppers are ready to be grinded when they become brittle.

Next, let the peppers cool a bit and put them in a grinder. You can use a coffee grinder, a food processor—whatever you have in your kitchen. Start by grinding just a little to see the size of flakes you get. The less grinding—the more flakey the result. The more you grind—the closer it’ll look to the powdered pepper you buy in a store.

Let the peppers sit for about 15 minutes before you open the grinder or the food processer. You’ll end up sneezing from the peppers.

You can substitute cayenne peppers for other peppers as well.

Also you can use a food dehryderator for drying peppers if you have one....
These cayenne pepper flakes are better than the ones you fine in the store...the color is rich, the flakes smell fresh and the taste is worth the time it takes to do your own.

How to use:
My first experiences with red pepper flakes were at pizza restaurants, with those glass shakers full of seeds and flakes. I also love going to a favortive deli store and I ordered red pepper flakes on my sandwich....

As I learned to cook, I threw them in only when a recipe called for them, and always in very small amounts. Now, I use them on pasta, vegetables, in sauces...
We love red pepper flakes with Asian ingredients and add them to sauces like the spicy peanut sauce that goes with our any vegaetable and summer rolls and for some reason they are just perfect on broccoli.