Dried Dragon Cayenne Peppers

Two weeks ago I posted about harvesting my Dragon Cayenne peppers. They have been sitting out on my kitchen counter, covered by a piece of parchment and are in the drying process.

I needed some red pepper flakes for a recipe today, so I chose the peppers dry enough to crush, placed them in my spice grinder and then transferred them to a spice jar.

Home grown is so wonderful! But you could always visit the farmer’s market for fresh peppers to dry.

You’ll know the peppers are dry enough when the stem separates easily from the pepper. Then, just snip them with a pair of kitchen shears and pop them in the spice grinder.

If you don’t have a spice grinder, you could use a mini chopper, mortar and pestle, or even the back of a large spoon on a flat surface.

Store in a spice jar and enjoy them in your favorite recipes!

Use them sparingly. As the name implies, they are very spicy!

Cayenne peppers range from 30,000 to 50,000 heat units on the Scoville pepper heat scale. In comparison, Jalapeno peppers range from 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville heat units.