Comments on: Homemade Paprika: Because I Can

By: Mike Lennard

Mike Lennard — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:41:31 +0000

Great article. Here’s how I do it. First I make ristras about 16 inches long with red ripe serrano peppers and hang them in my pantry, which gets heated by my furnace, for about a year until they’re really dry. Then I pull the pods off, leaving the stems behind, and crush them by hand to get a feel for the moisture content., it should be quite low for good results. I then coarse chop the pods with a large knife before running them through the Cuisinart. I then pull out all the petiole pieces (where the pod attached to the plant) and other uncooperative bits, and continue the grinding process until it looks pretty much as your second picture shows.

I also do this with applewood smoked serrano chiles. It’s less time consuming since the smoking process drives out most of the moisture for you. It takes about 16 to 18 hours of smoking to get them fully smoked, but then you need to let them air dry for about 6 to 8 weeks. Then follow the same process as above.

I plan to try the air-dry method with a hot cherry bomb type chiles, my garden yielded about 25 lbs of these. My mentor says to cut these into thirds, remove the stems and seed and dry them outdoors in the shade (I’m in Colorado so this works well). If they are not dry enough when the weather stops cooperating, I will finish drying them in the oven at the lowest setting on baking trays. The side benefit of oven drying them is the whole house smells of wonderfull chiles!

By: Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Jennifer: You let them get red on the plant. They don’t really turn much in the drying process…

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:54:40 +0000

I am growing paprika peppers for the first time. Do I let them become red on the plant or do they turn in the drying process?

By: Hank

Hank — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:18:59 +0000

Josh: I am thinking about a dozen or so, but it depends on size. So figure on 4-6 ounces of dried peppers.

By: Josh in Nashville, TN

Josh in Nashville, TN — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 02:52:50 +0000

Dang, I bet that would be awesome in a ribrub. We grow quite a few peppers of sorts and have yet to try anything like this. How many peppers would you think would produce a cup of paprika?

By: Pepper terminology | My Suburban Homestead

Pepper terminology | My Suburban Homestead — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:19:11 +0000

[...] can be either hot or sweet. It is a challenge to make, though I’ve never tried it. Check out this article if you are interested in attempting this [...]

By: Donalyn

Donalyn — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:49:04 +0000

I cut sweet red peppers into chunks and dry on the dehydrator and then grind in my high powered juicer and whala–paprika and it smells wonderful and has a rich full flavor.

By: David Hysom

David Hysom — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:06:48 +0000

Great article, thanks! I’m gardening for the
first time in my life, in a new community garden
( http://4thstreetgarden.blogspot.com/ )
I have on pepper plant that was labeled “pimento,”
and was trying to figure out what a pimento was.

The plant is small (maybe the size of two fists,
on on top of the other). It’s covered with tiny
peppers (think: the size of a pencil eraser).
The peppers are growing upwards from the stem,
which is different from every other pepper plant
I’ve seen. They’re a deep purple. And they’re
medium to hot spicy.

After reading your article I’m pretty sure they’re not
pimentos, though have no idea what they might be.

By: vesna

vesna — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:41:33 +0000

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