Make your own chilli powder

Worried by tales of chilli powder adulterated with food colourings or worse? Anyone who has a greenhouse has probably tried growing chillies and realised how easy they are to grow. But have you tried preserving them for use over the following year? Here are some simple guidelines for making your own chilli powder.

First of all, red chilli powder looks much better than green chilli powder, although there probably isn't that much difference in strength or flavour once added to cooking, and any variety of chilli will do. If you have a glut of green chillies they can easily be ripened at home. Put them all in a tub along with some ripe red chillies, or some other fruit which will speed up the ripening process, and leave on the kitchen window sill. You can leave them for up to four weeks on average, but once they start to go a bit shrivelled and rubbery it’s probably best to start drying them.

To prepare for drying, I normally cut off the stalk and then split each chilli lengthways into four. The main thing is to make sure that the peppers are completely open with no sealed cavities - unfortunately the moisture can't escape from a chilli (it seems to have a good waxy coat) no matter how long you dry it. Top tip…if you have any cuts on your fingers cover them with a plaster first or wear gloves, the juice from the chilli doesn't half sting if you get it in cut !

After chopping the chillies put everything (the body of the fruit, the white pith and all the seeds) onto baking trays. I find that two standard baking trays (ca. 22 x 32 cm) covered in fresh chillies are needed to provide enough dry powder at the end to fill a Schwartz-type spice jar.

Place in the oven at somewhere between 40 and 60 deg C and leave overnight. I know the temperatures are a bit vague, but I will leave that to your judgement - you know your oven better than I do. The main thing is not to go so high that you cook the chilli and lose the flavour. A fan oven is probably best as it helps remove the moisture faster. If the temperature is about right you’ll notice a nice sweet smell and a bit of humidity when you open the oven door. The next morning you should have a batch of dried chillies crisp to the touch and much reduced in size.

Next the exciting bit. The chillies can be easily ground down in a coffee grinder, seeds and all.  I normally put in a handful, blitz it and then scoop out the powder and add to the spice jar bit by bit. Now chilli powder, especially when it is dry and has just been stirred up in a coffee grinder, will easily fill the air in your kitchen and make you choke if you breathe it in. Top tip number 2… cover any gaps where the powder might escape from your coffee grinder with some wet kitchen roll or a tea towel. Let the dust settle each time before taking the lid off the coffee grinder. Empty into the jar and repeat until you have ground down all your chillies.

So finally, you should end up with a nice jar of naturally coloured orangey-red chilli powder which will smell so much sweeter and aromatic than anything you have bought from the shop. Use sparingly....